A Place to Stay
by StangeInterests32
Summary: With the Battle of Sokovia over, Wanda found herself in a new home in the Avenger's HQ. But a new revelation about her comes to light that forces the team to take a drastic measure to ensure the safety of the youngest Avenger. Wanda now finds herself uprooted again, this time to a place even she never expected, but that might just become something she's always wanted.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: In my last story, Guilt Trip, I wrote that Wanda had stayed with the Barton's for a about a year. Mu mind kept going back and picturing what happened when she stayed, and I thought why not explore that. Hope you like what you read.

* * *

Clint had been working in the barn, trying another attempt at getting the tractor to start up. He cursed as he listened to the engine fail to turn over…again. "Stupid piece of crap," he muttered as he climbed off it and threw the wrench he'd grabbed for another attempt at fixing off to the side. He looked at it and as he contemplated what might possibly be wrong with it, he could swear he heard his wife's voice echoing inside his head.

 _We should just buy a new one. It'd be cheaper than fixing this thing all the time._ He'd argue that this one was still salvageable. _Then at least try calling Tony, he got it to work last time._ He'd then, stubbornly, say that Iron Man himself had more important things to attend to than drop everything just to fix a simple John Deere.

He was surprised when she gave up and walked away without any further rebuttal, but figured she was biding her time. When he heard the unmistakable sound of landing thrusters just outside, he rolled his eyes. I can't believe she called him, he thought as he started walking outside to greet Stark. To his surprise he watched as a quinjet landed next to the barn. He walked to the rear and waited as the landing steps folded down and smiled as he saw Natasha coming down.

"Nat," he greeted as the two spies hugged each other. "Nothing's wrong is there?"

She shook her head. "But we do need to talk."

He nodded and led her into the house. Laura was excited to see the family friend, commenting that it had been too long since they'd talked. Clint noticed that Laura didn't bring up the subject of Bruce, and smiled subtly as he realized that Laura was probably just as good as he was at avoiding sensitive subjects when necessary. "I'll leave you two alone to talk," she.

"It's alright, this actually concerns you too," Natasha said before Laura could leave. Laura looked to Clint, but he just shrugged, letting her know he had no clue what this was about. "We have a situation involving Wanda," Natasha started as she looked at the couple across the table from her.

"Something going wrong with her training?" Clint asked, knowing that Natasha was working with her more than anyone.

"She not fitting in?" Laura asked, causing both spies to smile. Leave it to the Mom in this conversation to ask _that_ , they both thought.

"No, nothing like that. She's coming along pretty well in her training," she told Clint. She then looked toward Laura. "And she's starting to come around after she came to grips with what happened to her brother, so, don't worry, she's okay. The problem is we were finally able to piece enough of her past together to get a picture of who she is. While we expected the whole lost her parents, grew up in orphanages and such, we were surprised when we found out a special piece of information – her age." Clint and Laura both looked at the stoic redhead. "She's just turned seventeen."

"What?" Clint almost shouted. "Sev…seventeen? But that means that Pietro was -" he started then stopped in an effort to control himself.

Natasha and Laura both remained quiet for the moment, letting Clint get it out. They both knew what he was thinking. Pietro was seventeen years old; still a kid. A kid that died throwing himself in front of some bullets so that Clint could get back to his. Laura wasn't sure if Natasha knew, but she knew that Clint still blamed himself for that. Now that he knew how old Pietro was, there was no telling how he'd take it now.

"Don't do that to yourself Clint," Natasha told him softly. "You didn't know. None of us knew. If we had, we'd have made them get out with everybody else."

Clint just stared away from her, not saying anything. But the clenching and unclenching of his jaw told both women that he was processing the information. Laura thought it best to change the subject, albeit slightly.

"So how does her age affect things?" she asked.

"Steve, Tony, and Fury don't have a problem with her training with us, but she _cannot_ be going out on missions. They also feel she should stay somewhere else on a long term basis; somewhere more stable, more…normal."

"You mean with us?" Laura asked. Natasha nodded.

"Why us?" Clint finally spoke.

"Because Steve, Tony, and myself don't trust anybody else with her."

Clint looked at Laura, almost wanting her to say no for him. "She has nowhere else to go," Laura told him gently.

"But…"

"Clint," she said softly, taking his hand in hers, "I know that seeing her might make you feel like you're going to be constantly reminded about what happened to her brother, but she needs a home. Besides, her brother gave his life to protect yours. Think of this as a way to pay him back by protecting her."

Clint just stared at Laura, wondering how she always knew just what to say to him to put things in the right perspective. "How long until she gets here?" he asked Natasha after a few moments of silence.

"A couple of days."

"That'll give us enough time to get the guestroom ready for her, and tell the kids," he said.

Laura smiled and kissed Clint softly on the cheek. The tension was starting to lessen, but Laura wanted to get rid of it faster. "Well now that that's settled, I need to wake Nate from his nap. Nat, would you like to see your nephew while Clint tires to fix that god awful tractor again?"

"You're still trying to fix that thing?" Natasha asked in disbelief. "You do know that you have enough money to just _buy_ a new one, right?" Natasha asked matter-of-factly.

"That one still has some life left in it," Clint replied.

"Then call Stark, he got it running for you last time didn't he?" she added.

Laura looked at Clint in agreement, causing him to let out a deep breath to remain calm. Rather than say something that would no doubt have him sleeping on the couch, he decided to act with some discretion. "Just get the kid," he said through strained teeth. As he went back outside to go back to the barn he heard Laura and Natasha laughing, no doubt having fun at his reaction.


	2. Chapter 2

Three days later the quinjet was once again landing in the clearing next to the barn. Wanda sat in the co-pilot's seat, looking out at the large amount of open space. It was the beginning of June, so the whole area looked alive with green fields that were broken up in some parts by pockets of color from different flower beds. There was row of trees lining what she assumed was the edge of the property. The barn was obviously next to their current position and she could see the house was no more than just a short walk away.

Clint was walking out of the house, followed closely by a brown haired woman holding a baby. Two other kids followed; a little girl who looked around nine, and a boy who looked about twelve. A picture perfect family, she thought.

"You okay?" she heard Natasha say to her once the engines shut off.

She nodded. "Are you sure they're okay with this?" she asked cautiously.

"Yes," Natasha answered simply. After she finished the landing protocols for the quinjet, she turned toward the nervous teenager. "Clint and his family are fine with this. In fact, knowing them like I do, I can tell you with certainty that they're looking forward to it, especially Lila," she added with a smile. Wanda just looked at Natasha with a look of worry.

Natasha turned her seat to face Wanda. She leaned in toward, her and took the girl's hands in her own. "You will be fine. The Bartons are not going to hurt you. They just want to help you. All we need from you is for you to try. Can you do that?" Wanda nodded. "Get your backpack, I'll get your suitcase."

Soon the spy and the teenager were walking off the quinjet and toward the house. Wanda felt herself becoming scared along with nervous. She knew Clint, but not the family. She didn't know what to make of them, and she didn't know what they would be making of her. She'd been told by Steve that the Bartons were good people, kind people. Natasha practically gushed as she neared the porch, her smile lighting up her face. She handed off the suitcase to Clint and then made a beeline in the direction of Clint's wife.

"Hey you," she said in an overly happy voice as she took the baby from her. "How's Auntie Nat's little man doing?" she asked the baby, laughing as the small child cooed in her arms.

Wanda watched from the bottom of the steps, feeling a bit perplexed by Natasha's behavior. She always saw the spy as stoic and serious, occasionally letting a smirk grace her lips, but never…this. It was a new sight for the young teenager. After her moment of gushing Natasha turned back toward Wanda. When she saw that the young girl was still on the foot of the steps she went down and gently brought her up to the steps.

"You already know Clint," she told Wanda as they hit the porch. Wanda looked at Clint and nodded. "This is his wife, Laura, and their kids, Cooper, Lila, and baby Nate," she said as she held the infant in Wanda's direction, once again shocking Wanda by breaking into an uncharacteristic litany of baby talk.

"Hi Wanda," Laura said while smiling in Natasha's direction. She then turned toward the teenage girl and shook her hand.

"T-thank you for letting me stay with you," Wanda said nervously.

"There's no need to thank us sweetie, we're happy to have you," Laura said as she took Wanda's backpack from her. She handed it off to Clint who added it to the suitcase he was holding. "Kids, don't just stand there, come and say hello."

The two Barton children came and said hello, and Wanda greeted both of them in return. "You're not from around here are you?" Cooper asked.

"Coop," Clint cut in, but before he could say anything else, Wanda held up her hand to quiet him.

"No, it's okay. My home's a country called Sokovia; at least it was until your Dad helped drop and break it."

"Funny," Clint deadpanned, yet knowing that Wanda was just poking a little fun at him.

Cooper nodded and ran back into the house. Wanda was about to ask about her accommodations when she felt a tug on her skirt. She looked down to see Lila standing in front of her. "Do you like minions?" Lila asked once she got the older girl's attention.

"Minions?"

"Little yellow Twinkie looking things," Clint told her.

"Come on, I'll show you, I put one in your room," Lila told Wanda excitedly as she grabbed the teenager's hand and dragged her inside. Clint, Laura, and Natasha smiled at each other as they followed the two into the house. By the time the three of them had made it through the door, Lila had dragged Wanda nearly the entire way up the stairs and onto the second floor. When they caught up with them, the two girls were in the room that Clint and Laura had set up for Wanda.

The room itself wasn't overly large, but it was slightly bigger than the one she had at Avengers Headquarters. The walls were covered in off-white wallpaper that had a floral design on it. There wasn't anything on the walls yet as Clint and Laura figured that Wanda would get around to decorating on her own eventually. The furniture was Spartan, a dresser with a TV on it, a desk with chair, a bedside table, and a full-size bed with red sheets – a suggestion from Natasha – and tucked in a sitting position between the two pillows was of one Lila's stuffed minions.

"That's Kevin, he's here in case you get lonely," Lila said eliciting a small giggle from both Laura and Natasha.

"Thank you," Wanda told the young girl. Lila smiled and then went off to go find her brother.

"It isn't much, but you're welcome to it; decorate it however you want," Laura told her as Clint put her suitcase down next to the bed and her backpack on it.

"It's fine, thank you," Wanda replied.

"Make yourself at home," Laura told her as she went to open the curtains a little more. "Dinner will be ready in about an hour and a half; Nat, you're staying, right?" Natasha nodded as she bounced Nate in her arms. "Alright, so let's let Wanda get herself settled in. We'll be downstairs if you need anything sweetie."

"Thank you Mrs. Barton."

Laura smiled at the young girl's politeness. "You can call me Laura."

Once everyone was gone, Wanda paced the room, getting the feel of it. She stopped and looked out the window. She could see most of the farm from here; the bright green field, the blue sky. It was all so perfect. She felt a lump start in her throat that traveled into her chest. Piertro would've liked it here, she thought. As she thought about her brother, Wanda started to feel herself become emotional. Only it wasn't sadness that she was feeling. It was hurt – and anger. He _should_ be here, she thought, enjoying the peace and normalcy being offered. As she felt herself begin to become teary eyed, she walked away from the window and sat on the bed.

 _My_ bed, she thought, in _my_ room. Not _our_ room.

As she felt the tears that had been welling in her eyes begin to fall after becoming too much too hold in anymore, she almost instinctually reached for the stuffed doll that Lila had left for her and hugged it close.

* * *

Dinner was a spectacle for Wanda. She watched as the Bartons, plus Natasha, sat down for their meal. Clint was seated at the head of the table, and said the blessing, and then it seemed almost like Laura took over. She served the food, and made sure that Cooper and Lila actually stayed seated. Wanda picked at her plate; her nerves not letting her feel very hungry. Luckily she had the distraction of Cooper and Lila asking her questions almost non-stop to hide that fact.

"Guys, stop nagging Wanda, and eat your dinner. If she wants, she can answer all your questions after," Clint told them through a mouthful of food.

"Babe, manners," Laura admonished her husband. Clint looked at her and smiled, then mouthed a "sorry".

Wanda felt Natasha give her a light tap on her arm and turned toward her. "FYI, Clint likes to believe he's in charge of this place, but Laura runs the show."

"I heard that, Nat," Clint called out from across the table.

"I'm just letting the girl know how things work around here," Natasha smiled. Clint just gave the assassin a look of playful contempt.

By the time that dinner had ended, Wanda had managed to eat most of her food, surprised at how much she enjoyed the home cooked meal over the ones she'd had at Avengers Headquarters. She also answered a few more questions of Cooper and Lila's before Clint and Laura insisted that needed to start getting ready for bed. Wanda learned that bedtime was a ritual that involved making sure that Lila and Cooper took showers, dressed in their PJs, brushed their teeth, and after a small of amount of begging, got to watch a little bit of TV before Clint and Laura herded the two to bed. Since Nate had to be watched, it left them with the ability to corral only one child at a time as Clint seemed to be the parent chosen for the job tonight.

Cooper seemed to be the one he wanted to tangle with first. "Because it takes me more time with you since your sister easier to handle," he answered when the twelve year-old whined about why he had to go to bed first.

As Wanda watched Clint interact with his kids, she felt the same kind of disbelief she had watching Natasha with the baby. She just stared as she watched Clint down here in the living room taking Cooper from whiny, to annoyed, and finally made him relent. She smiled slightly as she watched him get Cooper to finally laugh as they reached the top of the stairs.

"It's like seeing a completely different person isn't?" she heard Laura ask from behind her.

"Huh?"

"Clint. It's gotta seem weird seeing him here, with the kids, being totally different from the guy out in the field taking out robots and aliens with a bow and arrow?"

"It's…it is different," she answered. "How does he adjust to being away from the fighting?"

"The kids. Me. That's why he keeps – kept – this place secret from Shield. He wanted a place where the fighting wouldn't catch up with him. A place where he could be Clint, not…"

"Hawkeye," Wanda finished for her. Laura nodded.

"Give it some time, maybe this place can do the same for you." Wanda nodded and said thank you again, albeit in her head. They heard Nate fussing in his crib and Laura got up to check on him. She came back in a second later, coddling the infant in her arms, "By the way, me and Clint were talking and figured that since you already seventeen, you don't _need_ a bedtime like the little ones, but all we ask is that you at least be back in the house by eleven, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am."

By ten-thirty later that night, Wanda was back in her room, trying to relax from the day. Through her door she could hear Laura and Clint, Laura mostly as Clint was as silent as ever, making the rounds to make sure the kids were okay as they slept. She was just about to go to sleep herself when there was a knock on her door.

"Come in," she said sitting up.

Clint and Laura walked in. "Just wanted to make sure you were okay before we turned in," Clint said as he leaned against the wall next to the door.

"I'm fine," she answered flatly.

The two parents looked at each other, neither one really believing her fully. After a second or two, Clint looked at Laura and she nodded, understanding his unspoken request. She walked over and kneeled in front of Wanda and took her hands in hers. "I'm here if you need me for anything, okay?"

Wanda nodded and Laura smiled at her. Once Laura was out of the room, Clint grabbed the chair from the desk and brought it closer, facing the back toward Wanda and then sitting.

"How're you holding up? Really?" he asked gently.

Wanda took a deep breath and sat further back on her bed. Clint almost let a smile slip as he watched Wanda grab Lila's minion and hugged it. "Why you?"

Clint didn't flinch at the question. He figured it was coming sooner or later. He took a second to think about his answer. He wanted to be respectful with his answer, especially since he knew Wanda wasn't being disrespectful with the question. To the untrained ear it might have sounded like a slight, but Clint knew she was just grasping for some kind of reassurance.

"Steve and Nat…and everyone there…felt you needed to have a chance to be a normal teenager _before_ becoming an Avenger. And none of them have what you could call _normal_ living situations. Here's about as normal as you can get for what we do."

"So how's it going to work?"

"When you need to train, which according to Nat is going to be scaled down just a little, you'll head back to New York, otherwise, you're here, trying to figure out how a normal seventeen year-old girl is supposed to act."

"Normal? Me? That hasn't happened in a long time."

"Have fun figuring it out."


	3. Chapter 3

"I swear that baby's got his father's arm," Laura sighed after Nate had thrown his stuffed toy out of his crib again as she and Wanda were in the kitchen. Wanda looked at Laura with a questioning look. "Clint's not just good with a bow and arrow. You should ask him to show his knife skills," she clarified for the young girl.

Wanda nodded and continued to wash the vegetables for dinner later. It had been about two weeks since Wanda had arrived and for the most part, she was adjusting. She'd stopped lying awake most of the night, her nerves and fears keeping her from finding sleep. After about four days' worth of restless nights, Wanda's situation became clear to Clint and Laura when they found her sneaking away to hide so she could nap throughout the day.

Laura proceeded to leave the younger kids with Clint for the day, and took Wanda out, slowly working the girl until she started venting about her issues. "Sweetie, you don't have to be afraid, of being here, of the whole situation. We, and I mean _we_ , Clint, Nat, Tony, Steve…me, we all just want what's best in order to help you, whatever that help is," she told her as they sat down for lunch.

"I know, but…I've just never had to do something this big alone. Pietro was always there, making sure I was okay. Now? Now it's just…"

"Just you," Laura finished for her. Wanda nodded. "Is that why you're scared?"

Wanda sat still, her fingers playing with her fries. Eventually, after a few seconds, she gave another nod. "Sweetie, I understand what it's like to have to something so big alone. When Clint had to go away for his missions, I was here keeping things from falling apart. And once the kids started coming, it seemed really scary, and there were times when I thought I couldn't handle it, and I just wanted to call Director Fury and beg him to bring Clint home."

"Did you?"

"No," Laura answered with a shake of her head. "Because I knew Clint wouldn't come back until he was finished because he knew that he didn't need to. You want to know why?" Wanda shook her head. "Because Clint once told me that the reason he knew he could leave was because he knew he didn't need to worry, because he knew that I was strong enough to hold things down here because he said I was the strongest person he knew. Now I know that you're scared, but I have to think that if something ever happened to him, Pietro knew that you could handle yourself. Do you think he was wrong?"

"I don't know," she said, her voice just barely above a whisper.

"I never met Pietro, but think he thought you were. That's probably why he wasn't worried about saving Clint. He probably also figured the rest of the team might look out for you, which they aren't, aren't they?" Wanda nodded, a small smile finally gracing her lips, making her look much more at ease Laura thought.

She was brought back from the memory of that day and that conversation when she and Laura could hear Nate fussing in his crib. A moment later and he was crying and screaming at the top of little infant lungs.

"Sweetie, he's crying for the toy he threw, can you give it back to him, please?"

"Yes Mrs. Barton," Wanda answered.

Laura was about to remind Wanda that she didn't need to keep calling her "Mrs. Barton", but she had already walked out.

She grabbed the bowl that Wanda had placed the washed vegetables in and took it to the stove to dump them into the boiling pot of broth before adding the meat she'd already trimmed. After the meat had been added, she seasoned the mixture and started to work on the cornbread. She was just about to start loading the batter into a pan when she felt something tap her side. She turned and saw her daughter standing next to her.

"What is it, honey?"

"Wanda's crying," Lila said a mixture of fear and worry in her voice.

Leaving the food, Laura sped over to the living room. She found Wanda cradling Nate, her hand lightly rubbing his chest. "Wanda, are you okay?"

Wanda nodded. At first Laura was concerned that maybe she should get Nate, but Wanda didn't look like she was going to hurt him. In fact, the way she held Nate to her was almost protective. "Is she okay, Mommy?" Lila asked.

"She's fine, honey, she just…she just needs a minute. Why don't you go outside and find Cooper and play." Lila nodded and walked out, leaving Laura alone with Wanda and Nate. She went over and sat next to Wanda and put her arm around the crying girl. Making sure she still supported Nate, Wanda leaned into Laura and kept crying. Laura was about to ask what was wrong when she spied the onsie she'd dressed Nate in, the one with his full name on it.

"I'm sorry if I scared Lila," Wanda whimpered, her voice sounding more composed that Laura thought it would.

"Its fine, sweetie," she said, her hand beginning to stroke Wanda's hair. "Lila was more worried than scared I think, but she'll be okay. You just go ahead and let it out."

Wanda sobbed a thank you and just kept on crying for a few more minutes. Eventually both she and Nate fell asleep, and Laura carefully removed herself from the couch and just let the two of the sleep. As she finished dinner she knew that she'd have to let Clint know what happened before Lila did.

* * *

The next morning, the entire family was finishing up breakfast. Laura was gathering up the plates and pans and moving them over to the counter. Clint was feeding Nate. And Wanda, Cooper, and Lila were polishing off their meals while handing their plates over to Laura. "Alright, Lila, Coop, help your Mom with the dishes," Clint said once he was done feeding Nate. They groaned about wanting to go play, but he shot them a look and they quieted down and simply moved to help their mother.

"If they want, I can help Laura and they can go play," Wanda offered as she finished her juice.

"Sounds good to me," Cooper said from the sink, Lila nodding her head, a hopeful smile on her face.

"Thanks for the offer, but I need your help right now," Clint told her.

Copper and Lila let out a collective "aww" and turned back toward the sink while Wanda mouthed a sorry toward them. Laura started to direct them while Clint got up from the table, went over and wrapped one of his arms around Laura's waist, thanked her for breakfast, kissed her, and then started making his way out of the kitchen, motioning for Wanda to follow him. She chugged the last of her juice, and started to try and keep up. "Thank you Mrs. Barton," she called out from the front door as she made it outside and saw Clint walking toward the barn.

"So what am I going to be doing?" Wanda asked as she finally caught up with Clint. "Please tell me you're not going to make me use my powers to try and start that awful tractor?"

Clint sucked in a deep breath and then slowly let it out. "You've been talking to Laura?" Wanda nodded. "Well, you're at least half right," he told her as they entered the bar and he took her to where he had several dozen bales of hay stacked. "Okay, I figure since you're going back to New York tomorrow for the week, it wouldn't hurt to practice before you leave. What I want is for you to use your powers to lift these bales, one by one please, and deposit them up there," he explained as he pointed to the barn's second level.

Wanda looked at him like he'd lost his mind for a moment. This wasn't the first time that she'd been given chores to do since she arrived. For the most part she didn't mind doing them, she wagered it was a way to pay back the Barton's hospitality; but this was a new one.

"Let me get this straight, you want me to move these _bales_ with my mind."

"One by one," Clint clarified.

"You just don't want to do it yourself, so you're making me?" she questioned, a sarcastic smile on her face. Clint shrugged. "Oh wait, you said this would help me train. Exactly how will this help me train?"

"Battle is about more than just being more powerful than your opponent. It's also about control, especially keeping it. Moving these one by one will teach the patience needed to maintain that," he responded. However, seconds later a small smug grin creased his lips. "And you're not wrong, I just hate doing this so, I'm gonna make you do it." Clint moved out of her way and took a seat on the tractor. "Feel free to start at any time, Kid."

Wanda rolled her eyes and brought up her hands. Clint watched as a red mist started to flow around them and Wanda's eyes began glowing in a red hue. Almost immediately, bale after bale started moving from the ground to the second level. After a few minutes, Wanda had developed a rhythm and was moving them like they were small stones being tossed into a river. When she done with about her first dozen, Clint finally spoke up.

"So you alright after your episode yesterday?" he asked, shocking Wanda out of her concentration. The bale she was moving was in midair and Clint watched it waver and finally plummet down to the ground.

"I already told Laura I was sorry for scaring Lila…and her."

"Good to know, but not the answer I was looking for. Are _you_ okay?"

Wanda nodded, and moved to pick up the hay bale again. She lifted it and deposited it with the others. She lifted another after that. And another. And finally a fourth, dropping it a little more harshly than the others. "Well?" she asked crossly.

" _Well_ what?"

"Aren't you going to get upset, or mad, or disappointed about what happened?"

"Are under the impression that I'm angry, or something else, with you?" Clint asked calmly, his trademark smirk on his face.

"I figure you wanted me away from everyone else so you could lecture me?"

Clint climbed off the tractor and walked over to the remaining hay bales and separated one, placing it on the ground and sitting on it. He cocked his head toward the space next to him and Wanda sat down." Kid, you've been walking on eggshells since you got here, and you don't need to be. We knew when we took you in that you were bringing some baggage. When we ask you if you're okay, it doesn't mean you did anything wrong, we're asking because we want to make sure you're alright. Like when I asked if you were okay about yesterday."

Wanda leaned down, her elbows on her knees, and her head resting on her hands. "I don't know if…if just seeing it brought everything back and forced me to live it again, or if it wasn't that I couldn't take it, or…" she started.

"Seeing what? Nate?" Clint asked when she stayed quiet too long.

Wanda shook her head. "No, I can look at Nate," she smiled, thinking about how cute the youngest Barton child was. "It was what he was wearing."

I'll be damned, Clint thought. It slipped his mind that Laura told him that Nate was wearing the onsie with his full name on it. Laura mentioned that Wanda seemed almost hypnotized by it, her fingers running over Pietro's name slowly, letter by letter. "You know, it never occurred to me to ask you if me and Laura could give the baby Pietro's name. Is it going to be something we should reconsider?"

"No, of course not," Wanda shook her head, her tone almost angry at the thought. "I'm actually really okay with it. Honestly, what got to me was…was the reminder of what Pietro did to get that decision made. Growing up, I always knew he'd throw himself in front of something dangerous for me."

"Well, big brothers are supposed to," Clint remarked, Wanda noting the touch of sadness in his voice.

"But for strangers? I didn't think he had it in him," she finished, her voice trembling at the end as she teared up. She lifted her arms off her knees, and in a move that surprised even her, rested her head on Clint's shoulder. Clint moved his arm around her, letting her lean into him. Before he knew it he could hear her crying. "God, I miss my brother," she sobbed.

"I know you do, Kid," he said softly, rubbing her shoulder.


	4. Chapter 4

"When's Wanda coming home?" Lila asked her father as she watched him painting her bedroom.

"Later, baby," he told her as he rolled some paint onto the wall.

Wanda had been gone for a week for training and Lila had practically sulked every day of it. Neither he or Laura had realized how quickly their only daughter had become used to having the teenaged Avenger in the house. To try and cheer her up Laura made Clint get around to painting her room for her like he'd been promising to do when he had time.

"And guess what, Clint; you got plenty of time now," she told him when he tried to get out of it.

So now he was spending the second day in a row applying paint to her walls after tearing down the wall paper. When he asked her what color she wanted, she answered pink without missing a beat. Laura tried not to smile too hard in front of her husband at the thought of him having to ask for whatever shade of pink Lila wanted at the hardware store, but broke out laughing once he was out of the house.

The things I do for my kids, he thought as he applied a second coat, Lila holding her nose due to her not liking the smell of the wet paint.

"But it's almost dinner time. If she's not back by then, she might not be back today at all."

"Lila, she'll be here," he told her, doing his best to not sound annoyed. "Auntie Nat already told me that Steve was bringing her back, and Wanda even texted me herself to let me know that they were on their way."

"But Cooper said she might decide to not come back at all," she whined, and to his ears, sounding like she might cry. "That she'll like New York better and not say goodbye."

Freaking Coop, Clint thought as he listened to the sadness in his daughter's voice. "Lila, your brother's just teasing you. Wanda's on her way. I don't know if she'll make it for dinner, but she'll be here. Okay?" Lila nodded. "Good, now how about you go help your mother make lunch."

Lila got up and ran downstairs leaving Clint alone.

"Cooper!" he called out, knowing his eldest son was in his room.

"Yeah, Dad," Cooper said about a minute later as he leaned against the doorway.

"Did you tell your sister that Wanda wasn't coming back?"

"Uh...," he stalled as he tried to come up with an answer that didn't get him in even more trouble.

"Yeah, didn't think she'd say anything did you?" Cooper just stayed quiet, now realizing that discretion was the better part of minimizing the possible grounding. "No more teasing your sister like that, especially over Wanda."

Cooper nodded and started to walk off, hoping to get away before anything else happened. He made it as far as the other side of the doorway before...

"I ain't done Coop." Cooper rolled his eyes and turned back toward his father. "I'm doing my best to make sure Wanda feels welcome here. _Your Mom_ wants her to feel like part of the family. Usually, your mother gets her way, and something tells me Wanda would be a protective big sister. And don't forget, you saw what the other Avengers were like when I brought them here the first time." The young boy nodded. " _Wanda_ did that to them, so I'd remember that next time your tease Lila, alright buddy?"

Cooper's eyes shot open and the look on his face reminded Clint of the one Loki had when he and the other Avengers had him surrounded after his attack on New York. Without saying anything, Cooper ran off and Clint could hear him yelling from the stairs. "Lila, I'm sorry."

Clint smiled and got back to work.

* * *

Dinner was moving as smoothly as could be expected. Clint was washed up after his day of painting. Laura had spent a few minutes assuring Lila that the smell wouldn't bother her while she slept. Cooper was busy stuffing his face while Nate was fussing in his crib. And Lila was playing with her food, depressed that Wanda still wasn't home.

"Lila sweetie, you need to eat," Laura said gently. Lila nodded slowly.

"Lila, I'm sure they're just running late," Clint reassured his daughter. To reassure himself, he checked his phone that he'd been keeping on the table next to his plate.

Laura leaned over and looked at his screen. "Anything?" she whispered. Clint shook his head. "Last text I got was from Steve a while ago about having to detour over Illinois because of a storm."

"I thought you said one of those jets could go through some pretty bad weather no problem?"

"Doesn't mean the people in it want to," Clint told Laura.

Before Laura could say anything, she was interrupted by the sound of landing thrusters outside. Lila's eyes widened and her face practically glowed with joy at the sound. She shot out of her chair and ran for the front door.

"She's here," the rest of the family heard her yell over to them. They got up and, after Laura had grabbed Nate out of his crib, went over to the door, not surprised to see that Lila had already gone outside. Laura sped up and made it outside just as Lila reached the bottom of the porch stairs.

"Lila, stop and let them land," she called out. Reluctantly, Lila did as her mother asked. After a few moments of anxiously waiting Lila saw Wanda, followed closely by Steve come from behind the quinjet and make their way toward the house.

"Wanda," Lila shouted as they neared, Lila running over and hugging Wanda. Wanda smiled and hugged Lila on return, then held the little girl's hand as they finished the walk to the house.

"Sorry about that," Clint said, "she really missed you."

"I can see that," Wanda smiled as she looked down at Lila who practically attaching herself to her hip. "I missed you, too," she smiled at the nine-year-old who now couldn't stop smiling.

"Steve, what's up?" Cooper greeted Steve.

"Eh, just making sure that Wanda got here in one piece."

"Was the storm really that bad, then?" Laura asked, concern in her voice. "The storm? No, it was just pretty large, that's why I decided to go around it. I'm talking about Wanda's training," he said good naturedly.

"Are you okay, Sweetie?" Laura asked Wanda, concern still in her voice, though it was mare maternal sounding than seconds before.

"I'm fine, Steve is just exaggerating."

"Mommy, she said ow when I hugged her."

Laura raised her eyebrow at Wanda. "I'm a little sore," Wanda admitted. "But in my defense, Steve and Natasha and the rest of them were working me for ten hours a day," she added, a slight touch of annoyance in her tone once she realized that Laura would be on her side.

"Ten hours?" Laura questioned Steve in the same tone she used when questioning the kids when she needed to know who broke something.

"Laura, I know it sounds like a lot, but we only have her for one week a month. We need to squeeze in as much as we can in that short time," Steve defended, albeit nervously.

"Ten hours?" she repeated.

"She's tougher than she looks, Laura."

"Ten hours?"

"I'll talk to Natasha about lowering it to eight."

Laura smiled and then turned her attention back to Wanda. "Wanda, are you hungry?"

"Starving."

"Come on then, we just started dinner a little while ago."

"Finally, something home cooked," Wanda rejoiced as she, Laura, and the rest of the kids went back inside.

"Steve, you're welcome to eat with us, too" Laura said after sticking her head back out and then going back in.

"That woman is terrifying," Steve told Clint who had the faintest smile on his face.

Clint was trying not to laugh at the sight of the Mighty Captain American himself, quailed by an ordinary Iowa housewife. Then again, he knew his wife was anything but ordinary. "That's why I love her." Steve smiled, happy at seeing Clint being so normal after all they'd been through in battle after battle together. "And she is right, you're welcome, so get inside."

"I'd love to, but that storm we detoured around, its coming this way. And as much as I'd like some of Laura's cooking, I really should head back before it gets here."

"She scared you _that_ badly?" Clint joked.

"No, I really do want to beat that storm out of here; though I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell Nat, and especially Tony, what just happened."

"Fine by me, fly safe," Clint agreed as he and Steve shook hands and Clint watched board the quinjet and fly off before heading back into the house.

* * *

Wanda's bed at Avenger's HQ was the best money could buy; Tony had made sure of that. But after only a two week stay, the teenage girl could now say with certainty, that her bed at the Barton's house was far more comfortable. And that decision had nothing to do with what the mattresses were made of, or expensive versus well-worn sheets. Wanda knew now it was because of what the beds represented.

The bed at Avenger's HQ was a bed that meant her day was done. And those days were full of combat training, hand-to-hand training, tactical training, training with her powers, and training for whatever else everyone thought she'd need. Her bed was plain and simply a place to finally rest after an exhaustive day. But even then, she had to deal with Steve, Natasha, Sam, Tony, and even Vision constantly barging in to check up on her and see if she was okay.

The bed here at the Barton House had no specifics pressed upon it. Sure, it was where she slept after a day of doing chores. But it was also where she could just lay, or sit, to read, listen to music, watch TV. She could use it as an escape from everyone if she wanted because unlike Avenger HQ, if her door was closed, no one barged in. They knocked. This bed was comfortable because it was hers to decide what it was for, not just to sleep in. Thought that familiarity made it easier to sleep in.

Even now, with a thunderstorm raging outside, Wanda slept like it was a clear night with no noise but the crickets and wind. At least that was how she slept until she felt herself behind shaken awake. As she groaned at the person disturbing her, the shaking became more insistent. Finally, she gave up and opened her eyes to see who was in her room.

"Lila?" she groaned as she gazed upon the Barton's only girl, standing next to her bed wearing Disney princess pajamas and a stuffed minion of her own clutched in her hands. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm scared, can I sleep with you?"

"Scared? Scared of what?" Before Lila could answer a flash of lightning brightened the room causing her to tense up. When the thunder rumbled, she almost screamed. "You're scared of the storm?" Lila nodded. "I thought kids ran to their parent's bed in times like this?"

Wanda couldn't see Lila's expression, but she could see how the girl's shoulders slumped and her head tilted downward. She also saw how the young girl started to make her way out. Good one, Wanda thought to herself, she comes in here scared and you actually scare her off.

Lila had only made it a few steps before she felt Wanda's hand grab her and gently pull her back to where she was standing before. Once Wanda had her in position, she saw the older girl lift the blanket, "Come on," she heard Wanda say.

Lila climbed in and curled up next to Wanda. When another flash of lightning, followed by a quicker, louder, house rattling clap of thunder hit, she whimpered, but was able to hold in the scream. She next felt Wanda drape her arm around her and Wanda's breath in her ear. "Don't worry, go to sleep. The storm can't hurt you, I won't let it."

Lila nodded and closed her eyes. Before she knew it, she was once again asleep. A few minutes later, Wanda was as well. Neither girl was awoken by the storm for the rest of the night.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: Since Sakovia, and its language, are fictional, I'm taking some liberties. The language that Wanda speaks in this chapter is real, I'm just substituting Ukrainian for Sakovian.

* * *

"Do I really need to be here," Wanda complained as she walked through the department store with Laura, Lila, and baby Nate. "I don't exactly need new clothes," she said as she watched Laura hold up a purple blouse against Lila, seeing if it looked okay on her. She nodded her head in a more or less fashion, and threw it into the cart.

"I get that, Sweetheart," Laura answered her without looking over at her. "But back to school shopping is a family tradition with the Barton children…one of which you are now," she smiled as she held up pair of blouses the same size as the previous purple one, one of them gray with a Minnie Mouse tsum tsum decal, and the other black with the words "Self-Saving Princess" surrounding a decal of a crown. "Which one, Lila?"

Lila looked at the tops and shrugged. Laura rolled her eyes and let out a sigh.

"Wanda, a little help?" she pleaded, holding the shirts in her direction.

"The black one," she pointed. "And I'm grateful to be included, but Clint's in the boy's section with Cooper, you're helping Lila, and Nate's just lying in the carrier, drooling and smiling," she explained, looking down at Nate in the cart, smiling as she watched him pull off his sock and begin to put his foot his mouth. "Robytʹ tsey pryyemnyy smak?"

"What did she say, Mommy?" Wanda heard Lila whisper to Laura.

"I asked Nate if that tastes good?"

"Does what…Nate! Stop that," Laura cried as she moved to pull Nate's foot from his mouth. Wanda and Lila laughed as they watched Laura put his sock back on. "You could've stopped him," she told Wanda.

"But it looked so cute," she responded back.

Laura breathed in deeply, then let out a smile. "Fine, but next time, take a picture, _then_ take his foot out of his mouth." Wanda nodded. "You know, I get that you don't _need_ new clothes, but you could pick a few things out. Some new skirts or tops, things to look nice in."

"And just why would I need to look nice. I don't really have anywhere to go, and like you said, this isn't normal shopping, it's…," Wanda trailed off, her mind finally figuring out what Laura was doing. "Oh my God."

"Now Wanda," Laura began.

"No," Wanda stated emphatically, already knowing where the conversation was going.

"Sweetheart, we can't just let you…"

"No," Wanda repeated while Laura kept talking.

"…stay at home all the time. You need to do normal things – like high school."

"I don't need to go to school," Wanda rebutted.

"Wanda, you're supposed to be doing normal things while with us. Going to school is about as normal as you get for a seventeen year old girl."

Wanda went silent, deciding it was best to collect her thoughts rather than fly off the handle. "Might I add that I'm also an Avenger; doesn't that get me out of the whole school argument? After all, wouldn't the exposure be bad?"

Laura put a sympathetic hand on girl's shoulder, then brought it up to her face, cradling it gently. "You've never been on a mission that was covered by the media, you're not famous enough for exposure yet, Sweetheart," Laura told her bluntly, though with a touch of gentleness that only a mother could muster.

Damn it, Wanda thought.

"Does Clint know about this?"

Laura nodded. "Although, he wanted to do it more bluntly than this."

"How could we get more blunt than this?"

"His way of telling you would've involved a conversation after we showed up at the school for registration," Laura smiled, and almost laughed. While she didn't think springing the idea of high school on Wanda was funny, she did find humor in Clint's way of wanting to reveal it. She could picture Wanda standing dumbstruck in the middle of the cafeteria, staring at all the other students, it finally hitting her what Clint and she had planned.

"I'm not going," Wanda said defiantly.

"Wanda, I really think this would be –"

"If Wanda doesn't have to go to school, do I still have to?" Lila interrupted. Laura turned to look at her daughter, her eyes wide with shock at what she just heard. Lila loved school, so for Laura to hear this was almost heartbreaking for her.

"Lila, you still have to go to school," Laura told her daughter as gently as she could. "Lila, honey, you know how to get to the boy's section right?" Lila nodded. "Can you go get your father?"

"Okay," the young girl said, walking off.

"Is it okay for her to…"

"I can see her from here, and trust me, Clint will spot her the second she wanders into the section. But more importantly, did you hear what she said about school?" she turned to Wanda, her voice a little more stern, but still trying to remain calm.

"That's _my_ fault?"

"Wanda, since you moved in, Lila has practically adopted you as a big sister, and in case you haven't noticed, over the past few weeks, what you do, she tends to want to do. So if she hears you say that you're not going to school, she's going to assume she doesn't have to go to school."

"So I have to go to school to make Lila think she has to?"

"Pretty much," they heard Clint's voice say as he walked up, Cooper and Lila in tow.

"I'm assuming that this is your idea?" Wanda practically accused Clint.

"And Laura's. And Nat's. And Steve's. Surprisingly, even Tony's," he answered, a small smirk on his lips.

Before either Clint or Laura could say anything else, Wanda let an exhaustive grunt and stormed off. They watched her leave toward the front of the store, her arms crossed defiantly crossed in front of her chest. "That went better than I thought it would," Laura said.

* * *

"Do I really need to go to school?" Wanda asked Clint as the whole family drove back home. She was in the back of the SUV, sitting on the window seat behind Laura, Nate in the middle in his car seat, and Lila on the other side.

"It can't hurt to at least try it, Kid," Clint told her from the driver's seat.

"Why don't you want to go to school?" Cooper asked from the third row behind them.

"Yeah Wanda," Clint jumped in glibly, "why don't you want to go to school?"

Wanda looked back and forth between Cooper behind her, and to Laura and Clint in the front. She had an answer for them, but she didn't want to say it in front of the kids, especially Lila, since she was made apparent that the Barton's only girl seemed to be taking Wanda's lead lately.

"I…I don't like school," she admitted.

"Why not?" Laura asked.

"Because kids are…,"she started, stopping herself when she remembered that little kids were in the car. I guess the stronger words will have to wait, she thought.

"Are what?" Lila asked.

"Can we finish this at home?" Wanda asked.

"Sure, Kid," Clint answered.

"Whatever you need, Sweetheart," Laura added.

* * *

"So what are kids?" Clint asked as he and Laura joined Wanda out on the porch later in the evening. Wanda was sitting on the steps, leaning on the porch steps banister. Clint and Laura took up positions on the porch swing, Clint putting his arm around his wife. Because of the side of the porch steps she chose, Wanda's back was to them. They watched her lean her head back against the banister. She thought back to when she was a little girl, after that bomb of Stark's ruined her life. Then she thought back to the orphanages and all the schools they'd sent her and Pietro to.

"Kids are cruel," she said softly.

Clint and Laura looked at each other. "Not to sound insensitive, but I expected some stronger language back when you were in the car," Laura said.

Wanda chuckled. "I've calmed down a little. So _bastards_ becomes _cruel_ ," she clarified.

"Bastards?" Clint said emphatically. "What happened?"

Wanda got quiet and took a deep breath. She then switched to the middle of the porch so she could look at Clint and Laura.

"Syrota smittya," she finally said. "That's what they called me and Pietro."

Laura looked over at Clint. "Orphan _garbage_?" Clint responded a little unsure. He just now realized how little Sakovian he actually spoke, and how rusty it actually was.

"Close," she told him, smiling at the fact that someone at least knew a few words of her native language. "It means orphan trash."

"They called you trash?" Laura asked, appalled at the thought of anyone calling Wanda that, children or not.

Wanda nodded. Laura got up from the swing and went and sat down next to Wanda, taking her hands in hers. "Sweetheart, I am so sorry."

"It's okay, it was a long time ago," she said.

"Still stings though?" Clint asked from the swing.

Wanda nodded. "A little. You know whenever it happened, Pietro would always defend me. He got into a lot of fights because someone made me cry."

"He always protected you didn't he?" Laura asked her softly, one of her arms wrapped around the girl's shoulders, her hand stroking Wanda's hair.

"That's what big brothers do," she said, looking over at Clint, remembering what he'd told her a few weeks ago. "The problem was, he'd always get suspended for fighting, and then I'd have to go to school alone, where I'd have to try and defend myself. I wasn't so good at keeping the bullies from beating me up."

The last part was said with an effort since she was trying not cry. Laura immediately pulled her closer and Wanda leaned her head on Laura's shoulder. Wanda heard a small creak, and then the faintest of steps. She then felt Clint sitting next to her, and felt him wrap his arm around her shoulder as well. She almost broke out crying at the feeling of being surrounded by both of them.

"You're the first people I've ever told that to," she said.

"Does it feel a little better to let it out, Sweetheart?" Laura asked.

"A little," she concurred, breathing in deeply to fight back the tears.

"Look, Kid," Clint started, "I can't guarantee that bullying won't happen since you are gonna be the new kid. But I know you can't shut out the world because you're afraid of it."

"Clint's right," Laura added. "I know you had a horrible experience before, but that's no reason to shut out this one because you're scared of what the other kids might do. The Wanda Maximoff I let into my home wouldn't be afraid of that," Laura encouraged, lifting Wanda's head off her shoulder and looking her in the eye. "The Wanda Maximoff I brought into my home…she's an Avenger, and Avengers aren't afraid of anything."

Wanda began to laugh a little bit, and then threw her arms around Laura, hugging her tight. Laura looked over Wanda's shoulder to Clint, who had his trademark smirk on his face. He mouthed the words "I love you," before Wanda let go and, in a move that surprised both parents, Wanda turned and hugged him as well.

"Um…I guess I could try and go to school," she told them. She then turned to Laura. "I guess this means we have to go clothes shopping?"

Laura smiled and nodded. "Sure, Sweetheart. Clint can you…"

"I'll watch the other kids," he finished for her.

Wanda got up and started making her way into the house. "T-thank you," she said to them before going in.


	6. Chapter 6

The first day of school. One of the most hated days of the year for most children and teenagers. It meant the end of summer vacation, of sleeping in most of the day, of laying around doing nothing, and of not having to answer to teachers, counselors, and a principal.

For Cooper Barton, all those things were practically the best things in life. Although, he added a healthy dose of video games to his day. So as he heard his alarm clock blaring that it was seven in the morning, he had the urge to shut it off, roll over, and pretend that today was just another day of summer on the farm. For Lila Barton, it was the total opposite. Like Laura had revealed, the youngest Barton girl loved school. For her, it was a place to learn about the world around her, and to see her friends. When her alarm went off, she practically jumped out of bed, ready to get the day started.

Wanda however was more in the middle. She knew she needed to go to school, but she'd be lying, probably more to herself than anyone else, if she said she wasn't just a little bit afraid. New schools were hard enough, but starting one your senior year, well...even Avengers had limits to what they could handle, she thought. Then again, it wasn't like school was a completely bad idea. For years she and Pietro lived in fear of the place, mostly because unlike most of the other kids, they weren't normal. Even now, she knew normal was something she'd never be. But the real reason they'd never felt normal back then was because of what happened to them, they'd had to grow up quickly. they always felt older than they should have. Now, she had to try and not seem like she was vastly more worldly than everyone else around her.

But as she laid in her bed, her alarm having gone off fifteen minutes ago, she found herself reluctant to get out of bed. I'd much rather stay curled under these blankets, she thought. A little more sleep wouldn't hurt. Besides, it's not like I can get into _too_ much trouble on my first day, right, she kept thinking. As she kept coming up with reasons to stay in bed, her eyes quickly widened and she mentally felt like slapping herself in self-derision. "Oh my God," she said out loud, "I'm actually acting like a whiny teenager that doesn't want to go back to school."

She groaned loudly, and then decided to stop herself before she started self-wallowing and got out of bed. She brushed her teeth and took a quick shower, and then got dressed in one of the outfits she and Laura had bought.

"Hey Kid, you awake?" she heard Clint call through her door.

"Yes," she said answered, "just finishing my make-up."

"Don't take too long, Laura wants you to eat before you leave, okay."

"Got it," she replied.

A few minutes later she was coming down the stairs, her nerves wreaking havoc on her stomach, which she thought sucked since breakfast smelled awesome right now. Before entering the dining room, she checked the full-length mirror at the base of the stairs, checking to make sure that she looked alright in the form fitting black and cream striped, V-neck sweater, and matching black circle skirt that came to just below mid-thigh. Not too much showing without looking like a nun, she thought.

"Morning, Wanda," Cooper said glumly as he finished his pancakes as Wanda joined them.

"Hi, Wanda," Lila said cheerfully, much too cheerfully for any nine-year-old awake at this hour.

"Cooper, Lila," she said to them, almost as glumly as Cooper.

"Don't sound so excited," Clint said to her from behind his tablet.

"Sorry, not used to waking up so early. At least not here," she said.

"I know, Sweetheart, but you'll get used to it," Laura told her as she placed a plate of pancakes, eggs, and bacon in front of her.

"I don't feel very hungry," she complained.

"Nervous?" Laura asked her. Wanda nodded. "You'll be fine," she comforted as she rubbed Wanda's shoulders. "But you still need to eat something, so at least try the pancakes, they're blueberry," she smiled before walking back to the counter.

Wanda smiled at the thought of her favorite kind of pancakes. She started picking at them, which almost instantly turned into her inhaling her food. As she was finishing her breakfast she saw Lila finishing up one last summer drawing before their school year started. Once she was done, she looked at it and nodded that it was to her satisfaction.

"Cooper, Lila, go get your backpacks from your rooms, we gotta go," Clint told them. He then turned to Wanda. "Yours is on the couch, I almost tripped on it this morning. Apparently, someone left it on the floor instead of moving like she was asked to last night," he said teasingly.

"Sorry," Wanda smiled behind her cup of coffee.

"Here, I made this for you," Lila said, sliding over the picture she'd been working on before running up her room.

Wanda grabbed the paper and looked at it, and immediately fought back tears so she didn't have to spend time redoing her make-up. On the paper was a drawing of herself, with a large brick building in the background and the words above it reading, "Have a nice first day!"

* * *

Thirty minutes later the SUV pulled up to the curb across the street from Waverly-Shell Rock High School. Wanda sat in the backseat, looking out the window at the building. It looked exactly like it did when they came to register her, but then it somehow seemed more approachable, somewhat welcoming. But now that she had to actually go in there for the actual start of the school year, the place looked practically like a monster about to swallow her whole.

That is a lot more people than I thought there'd be, she thought, as she watched what looked like a herd moving toward the building.

"You alright there, Kid?" Clint asked from the driver seat.

Wanda nodded.

"You're going to be fine, Wanda," Laura told her. "Now go before you're late." Wanda groaned in frustration and got out of the car. "Bye, Sweetheart," Laura smiled before Wanda was out of earshot.

Once inside the school, Wanda walked down a hallway, trying to find the classroom where her homeroom was assigned so she could get her schedule. She was doing her best not to look out of place, but feeling like she was failing spectacularly. Everywhere she looked, whether it was just a pair, or a small group, the other students seemed to have someone to talk to – to help not feel so alone. Even now, just watching them reinforced to Wanda just how much of the new kid she was. Every now and then she saw another student looking in her direction. Some looked away once they saw that she was aware of their gaze. Others kept staring, a few looking her up and down, making her feel like she was being sized up. A few stared, then turned to their friends, said something she couldn't hear and laughed immediately after.

She knew she could take the talking, mostly because she couldn't hear it. But for Wanda Maximoff, she didn't always need to hear their words to know what was being said.

 _Check out the new girl._

 _Doesn't she have any friends?_

 _Ugh, who's she trying to impress with a skirt that short?_

For the first time, Wanda wished she wasn't able to hear other people's thoughts.

* * *

Once she'd found her homeroom, she took one of the only empty desks she could find, one by the window near the middle of the row. She forced herself to concentrate so she could stop hearing thoughts, and so far it was working, but she reasoned it was only the start of the day. The attendance bell rang as the teacher walked in, an average looking man in his early fifties whose hair, or what was left of it, was going gray and who was carrying around an extra fifteen pounds. She snuck a quick look at the form she'd gotten when registering and saw that his name was Mr. Edwards. Apparently, he was also going to be her History teacher.

"Alright everybody, welcome back. I hope you all had an enjoyable time off," he said flatly, like his students, still adjusting to being up so early.

After a quick introduction and a gathering of his notes, he started roll call. It went smoothly enough, until he got to the M's.

"McKay...?"

"Here," a boy in the front said.

"Matthews...?"

A blonde girl near the back casually raised her hand.

"Max- _I-_ moff...?" Mr. Edwards said, making Wanda roll her eyes as he stressed the 'I' in her name a little too much.

" _Maximoff_ ," she corrected him while also letting him knew she was there.

He looked at her once he'd heard her accent. "And just where are you from?"

"Not Iowa," Wanda answered, not really feeling the need to get into the subject.

"I'm sure the class would like to know a little bit more about a new student."

I'm sure they would, she thought.

"Just a country at least," Mr. Edwards prodded.

"Europe," Wanda responded.

"That's a continent."

Wanda groaned inside her head. "Sokovia," she finally answered.

"Isn't that the country that Avengers fought in a few months ago?" one student asked.

"I heard they totally wrecked it," another said.

No, just the capital, Wanda thought.

"How'd you end up here?" Mr. Edwards asked.

"Are you an orphan because of what happened?" a girl asked.

"I'd rather not say," Wanda told her.

"That's a yes on being Little Orphan Annie," a boy wearing a black and yellow letterman jacket joked, getting a few laughs from a few of the other students.

"Watch it, Cal, no need to start the first day down in Mr. Mason's office.

"Sorry about him," Mr. Edwards said.

Wanda just shrugged.

* * *

Once class let out, Wanda started making her way to her next class. She looked at the numbers on top of the doors, which caused her to bump into more than one student as she made her way. She had just found her next class, which according to Mr. Alexander would be the class she'd actually start her day with after today – English. It was a bit of self-irony for the foreign girl.

Just as she was about to enter it she felt someone tap her on the shoulder and call out to her. "Excuse me… _Annie_ ," she heard him say. She turned and saw a brown-haired boy wearing the same kind of jacket as the one in class who called her Little Orphan Annie. The sight of the jacket alone almost made her want to keep on walking.

"Can I help you?" she asked, her tone and the way she bore her eyes into him letting him know that she didn't like what he'd just called her.

"Sorry about calling you Annie," he started, "but you didn't say your name back in homeroom. Or if you did, I can't remember, which again, I'm sorry for." Wanda looked at him confusedly. "I'm Luke, Luke Shephard," he introduced, holding out his hand. Wanda took it and let him shake it for a second.

"Wanda."

"Wanda, I just want to say sorry about my friend back there for calling you Little Orphan Annie. He's an ass, doesn't always think before he talks. I think it's all the hits he takes during his wrestling matches," he said, a small charming smile on his face.

Wanda wanted to keep staring at him with either no emotion or at least annoyance, but she found it hard in the presence of that smile. She remembered Laura once telling her that before they even talked, she and Clint spotted each other from across the room, and he smiled at her before walking over and saying hello. Laura said she felt herself become all warm inside, and that she completely forgot whatever she was doing and whatever she was feeling. Something Laura told her from that conversation echoed in her own mind right now.

 _"_ _It wasn't love at first sight, Wanda, let me clear that up right now. I didn't fall in love with him until much later after that. But sometimes, a girl just can't help going all loopy when a cute boy smiles at her."_

Wanda now knew what that meant as the small smile on Luke's face totally disarmed her at the moment.

"It's okay, I've been called worse," she told him.

"Alright, just wanted to make sure it didn't bother you too much," he told her, smiling a little bigger.

"Do you have this class next?" Wanda asked, for some reason hoping he did.

"No, he does not," came a voice from behind her. She turned and saw a blonde woman in her early thirties standing behind her. "Mr. Sheppard, I just glanced at my roster, and your name isn't anywhere on it. I suggest you get to your own class before you're tardy."

Luke gave a quick two-finger salute and started to walk away. "Later Wanda," he smiled.

Wanda hoped she wasn't blushing.

* * *

The rest of the day went smoothly enough, only one other teacher had trouble with her name, but she asked Wanda to pronounce it rather than get it wrong. She was only asked by two more teachers where she was from, but after deciding that any of the student's responses couldn't be worse than the one from Luke's friend, she just bit the bullet and answered. Once she did she found that telling people wasn't as scary or off-putting as previously thought. Though she did keep the whole orphaned at a young age and currently being a foster child to herself.

Finally, the day was over, and as she exited the building, she spotted Clint and Laura waiting for her. Climbing in, she saw Cooper and Lila in the back as well as baby Nate. Cooper immediately climbed into the third row.

"How was school, Kid?" Clint asked.

"Fine."

Clint nodded and turned to start pulling out. After years of spy work, one word answers were fine with him. He figured if something was wrong, a person would tell you, or keep it to themselves, either way, he'd find out if felt he needed to. Seeing as Wanda was in one piece and not crying, he figured everything was alright.

Laura was not going to take a just a simple answer.

"Just fine?" she asked, turning in her seat to look at Wanda in the back.

Wanda nodded.

"No problems."

Wanda looked at her and shrugged. "Nothing I couldn't handle."

"Did you make any friends?"

"First day, just tried not to get lost."

Clint chuckled.

Laura looked at him cross-eyed.

"Did you at least meet any cute boys?" Laura sked, hopeful that at least Wand didn't spend the whole day talking to no one. Even if the girl didn't try to make a friend yet, Laura reasoned that Wanda was very beautiful girl, and teenage boys being what they are, and at least one would've come up to say hi.

Wanda tried not to, but the memory of a certain boy and his smile came to mind and she couldn't help but smile right along with a bright red blushing of her cheeks.

"Well at least there's that," Laura smiled as she turned back in her seat. She turned to look at Clint, and almost broke out laughing at the expression on his face. While she was happy, Clint looked mildly annoyed at the thought of boys coming up to Wanda. And here I thought I'd have to wait until Lila was older to see Clint have to deal with teenage boys, she thought, once again, almost breaking out laughing.


	7. Chapter 7

"Hey Nat," Laura said into her cell as she picked up a call from Natasha.

"Laura…hi," Natasha said in an overly cheery tone.

"Everything alright?" Laura asked, sensing something off about her friend.

"Everything's great. How's Clint?"

"Good. He's out taking the kids for ice cream."

"And how are Cooper and Lila?"

"Fine," Laura smiled realizing she was in an interrogation – a badly hidden one at that.

"They doing okay at school?" Natasha asked.

"Lila's teacher says she's already a shoe in for the honor roll, and Cooper is doing better than he thought he would be."

"And my little godson?"

"Fussy," Laura giggled. "He's starting to teethe."

Natasha laughed and "awwed" into the phone. "And when she's there, Wanda's okay, right?"

Now Laura looked confused. "She's fine, which you could ask yourself since she's in New York with you right now."

"True, I could, but there are some things that just need to be found out from a third party before going in direct," Natasha explained.

"And just what would I know?"

"Does Wanda have a boyfriend?"

The line was silent for a second as Laura smiled knowingly. It had been a few weeks since Wanda had started school and things had more or less been going okay for the young girl. She'd gotten acclimated to her classes, and surprisingly, was doing extremely well in them. She'd made a few friends and, per the reason for Natasha's call, even gotten a crush on a boy there.

"Now what would make you ask that?" Laura responded in the same overly cheery tone as her friend, moving to sit at the table after deciding that this call was more important than the getting the dishes done.

"Because ever since she showed up here Friday night, whenever she's not training, she's been on her phone with someone practically nonstop," Natasha told her. "And when she's texting whomever that it, she's got this dopey look on her face."

"Dopey? Really, Nat?" Laura asked, slightly shocked at the description.

Natasha laughed on her end. "Okay, maybe dopey is too strong a word, but she's definitely walking around with her head in the clouds and the most adorable looking smile on her face."

"I've never seen her smile like that in the time she's been here," Laura concurred.

"So who is it?" Natasha asked.

"Is anyone else listening?"

"Nope, just you and me. Everyone else in the lobby is is pretty much minding their own business."

"Lobby?"

On her end, over in New York, Natasha scanned her surroundings. People walking by. People chatting with their friends or dates. Other than the occasional glance of some guy who was trying not to look like he was checking her out, no one was really paying attention to her.

"Wanda, Steve, Sam, and I decided to catch a movie. The boys are grabbing the snacks, and I'm hanging out by the upcoming release posters watching Wanda. She's over on one of the arm chairs, curled up with her phone, texting away, giggling like little schoolgirl every few seconds. So again: who is he?"

"His name is Luke. Apparently they met on her first day."

"He walk up to her, or she walk up to him?" Natasha asked, a small smile on her lips at the thought of Wanda talking to a boy.

"He walked up to her. One of his friends was a little insulting, and he apologized for it."

"Have you and Clint met him?" she asked, rolling her eyes at the sight of Wanda letting out another laugh. My God, the girl is positively sickening with how cute she's being, Natasha thought

"Yes, and he's a very nice boy. He's smart, handsome, two sport letter –"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Natasha interrupted her, perking up at the sound of something interesting. "Two letter sport? He's an athlete?"

"Football and baseball."

Natasha almost laughed at that revelation. "Please tell me she didn't go cliché and go after the star quarterback?"

"Running back," Linda clarified.

"For a girl who put up a fight about going to school she sure seems to be jumping right in doesn't she?"

Natasha couldn't see Laura nodding on her end, but the spy could almost feel the smile that was probably beaming on her friend's face. "She is. I think she just needed other kids her own age around her to finally see what normal kind of looks like because since she started school she's…well she's still herself for the most part."

"A little more mature than a girl her she should be?" Natasha asked.

"Yeah," Laura answered, her voice having just a small hint of sadness. "Then again, she did have to grow up a lot faster than most girls did," Laura finished.

Natasha looked at Wanda as she sat on her chair, laughing and smiling and realized that Wanda was a little more world weary than any seventeen year old girl should be. Hell, most teenage girls would've either gone insane our just shut down completely after dealing with what she's had to, she thought.

"But now," Laura said, snapping Natasha's attention back to the phone call, "unless you knew her before, you'd never guess that she wasn't just a typical high schooler."

Natasha nodded subtly. Laura was definitely right, she thought as she studied Wanda. Not that she didn't look her age, the effects of the scepter making her appear a few years older, but dressed in a pair of Chucks, ripped jeans, and of all things, one her school's class shirts along with her hair pulled back into a simple ponytail, no one would ever assume that she wasn't just some average teenager instead of one of the most powerful people in the world.

"Everyone up here has definitely noticed. It was quite the shock when she asked us to scale back her training this weekend because she needed time to write some history paper."

Laura laughed on her end, remembering that Wanda mentioned that paper. There was also a slight bit of ambivalence since Wanda had told her that she finished that paper _before s_ he left for New York. "She did finish it right?

"Yeah, it caught Steve off guard when she started asking him questions to help with it."

"Why Steve?"

"The paper's on the Depression," Natasha told her.

"And Steve lived through it," Laura said, forgetting just how old Captain America actually was.

"Hey, I'd love to keep talking about Wanda's improvements, but the guys are on their way back. I'll text you later."

"No problem," Laura told her. "Tell Wanda to have fun and call later."

"Sure thing."

A few minutes later Natasha, Wanda, Steve, and Sam were in their seats, picking at their snacks. People were still filling in so they were still able to talk, or in Wanda's case, get in a few last texts.

 _Wanda: U need to stop txting me. Movie about to start._

 _Luke: I did stop. Ur the one who kept going. Can't blame u though. Im very hard to resist_

 _Wanda: Not that hard. I can stop talking to u anytime I want_

 _Luke: Prove it…lol_

Wanda was about to tell him she would when she felt Steve tap her shoulder. "The movie's gonna start any minute, you might want to put a hold on the texting."

"Oh leave her alone, Cap," Sam chuckled. "After all, telling a teenage girl to _not_ use her phone is like telling her not to breathe."

Steve looked over at Natasha for some back up. "Eh, I'm sure Luke can wait a few hours to hear from you," she smiled.

Wanda's eyes widened at the sound of Luke's name coming out of Natasha's mouth.

"Who's Luke?" said Steve and Sam in unison

Wanda shot Natasha a look that plain and simply said one thing: what the hell?

"Wanda, who's Luke?" Steve asked again.

"Wanda has a boyfriend," Natasha teased.

"No Wanda does not," Wanda corrected in a voice that was halfway between annoyed and angry. She turned toward Steve and Sam, who was smiling at impromptu pre-movie entertainment. "Luke is just a friend from school."

"Who happens to be a boy," Natasha added, loving how Steve was apparently gearing up to go into de facto big brother mode.

"Does Clint know about this?" he asked.

"They've met," Wanda answered. "Now can we please drop this, the movie's about to start," she said in an effort to stop the line of questioning.

"I'll be right back," Steve said as he got up from his seat.

"Where you going?" Sam laughed.

"I'm gonna call Clint."

"Steve, don't…," Natasha called after him, but the super soldier didn't halt. "Bozhe moi."

"Bozhe miy," Wanda said in her language. She then looked over at Natasha, and the red-headed spy knew that she was deciding whether to use her powers on her or not.

"Sorry Wanda."

"As much fun as this was to watch, I can't wait to see what happens when the movie's over," Sam laughed as the lights started fading.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note: I thought we should get a little more in-depth look into Wanda and Luke's relationship, so this chapter, along with the next few, are going to focus on the two of them for the moment. That also means that the they'll be taking place together timeline wise.

* * *

"Wanda, you almost ready?" Natasha shouted from the hallway as she approached Wanda's room at Avenger's headquarters.

"I'm almost done packing," she shouted back as she heard the sound Natasha's heels getting closer.

"You know I'd like to be in the air while it's still Sunday," Natasha said jokingly as she reached Wanda's doorway.

Wanda rolled her eyes as she heard that statement, thankful that her back was to the red-headed spy.

"And it still will be," Wanda complained as she looked over her shoulder. "I just need to put my school books in my backpack," she said as she looked at the books piled on her desk.

Before Natasha could respond, they heard Wanda's phone chirp indicating she had a text. Wanda immediately moved in the direction of her dresser where she'd placed the phone. As she started to look at the screen, Natasha cleared her throat and pointed at the desk.

"This'll just take a few seconds," Wanda told her as if her response was the most obvious answer she'd give.

My God this girl has the whole insolent teen thing down cold now, Natasha thought. Sure enough, Wanda was indeed done in a few seconds, though now she looked annoyed. She set the phone back down and went and packed her books. Natasha noticed that she was shoving them into her backpack a little harder than was necessary.

"Everything okay, Wanda?"

"Its fine," she answered quickly.

"Something happen at home?" Wanda remained silent. "Is it Luke?"

Wanda just zipped up her bag and turned to grab her duffle bag of clothes. "I'm packed, let's go," she said stomping out of her room.

"It's Luke," Natasha said.

* * *

"Is everything alright?" Laura asked as Wanda and Natasha exited the quinjet, meeting them where they landed. It was plain for Laura to see that at the very least Wanda was a little upset. Natasha…well she looked like she was just dealing with whatever emotions Wanda was showing.

"Its fine," Wanda answered. As she listened to her voice, Laura couldn't tell if Wanda was angry, sad, or something in between.

Wanda gave Laura a quick hug and then rushed inside. Once she saw her enter the house, Laura turned toward Natasha. "How is she? Really?"

"She's upset," Natasha confirmed with a nod. "About what, no clue. Most of the flight over, she just had her earbuds in her ears, texting away.

"Nothing happened up there?"

Natasha shook her head. "I'm thinking it's something here. Something involving a certain running back," Natasha inferred with a raised eyebrow.

"Really?" Laura asked in complete surprise.

"They having problems?"

"Not that I know of," Laura said. She thought back to the past couple of months since school started and they'd started talking. For the most part they seemed to be getting along. They'd been out several times, and she usually seemed happy when she returned.

"Think we should talk to her?"

Laura looked back toward the house. "Yeah, but let's wait until she gets settled. She might be more willing to talk after that."

* * *

Wanda slumped her way into the house, her feet shuffling as she dragged them.

"Clint," she shouted when she didn't immediately see him.

"Out here, Wanda," she heard Clint call from the back porch. Wanda threw her stuff onto the couch and made her way to the back of the house. As she got near the porch, she saw that Clint was seated on the steps, his bow in his hands. She watched him tightening the string on it, and realized that he was restringing it.

"Welcome back, Kid," he said as he heard her come through the back door.

"Clint, what makes a boy lose interest?"

Clint immediately stopped what he was doing. He set the bow down next to him and turned to look at Wanda who was leaning against the wall next to the door.

"Come again?"

"What makes a boy lose interest?" she repeated, saying it slower and emphasizing every word.

"This about Luke?" She nodded. He tipped his gaze back toward the bow for a split second.

"You're not going to shoot him," she told him. " _I'd_ know."

"Then give me a reason not to," he said, his face tightening at the thought of Luke doing something to hurt Wanda. "Everything going okay between you two?"

She nodded again. "We're still talking, and…and we still like hanging out, but…another girl's been coming around him," she said while picking at her nails.

Oh God, Clint thought. Life was simpler when I knew teenage boys were at least four or five years away, he further mused. As much of a cool, accepting face he put on for Wanda – and Laura – he still had issues with Wanda dating. He knew that most of it was the usual you're not old enough, no boy's good enough arguments. The same things most father's thought. Then he realized that for those thoughts to be there, he'd had to have started looking at Wanda as well…his daughter. Luckily, this was one conversation he had an answer to.

"How to keep a boyfriend is something you should really talk with Laura or Nat about."

"This isn't that, because once again, he isn't actually my boyfriend," she responded. "And that's why I'm asking you. You're a guy. What makes a guy _not_ look somewhere else?"

"Quick answer is become his girlfriend," Clint chuckled. Wanda shot him a sideways glance. He grinned at her. "What? It is. You're asking how to keep a guy from cheating, but I got news for you, Wanda, if he ain't your boyfriend, then he can't cheat."

Wanda looked at him like she wanted to yell. It was clear to him that this was not what she wanted to hear.

"I was hoping for better advice."

"I'll bet you were. But that's what I got for you. If it helps, if he actually _was_ your boyfriend, then what I'd tell you then is that, unless they just refuse to stay faithful, the usual reason guys cheat is because they're looking for something they're not getting from their girlfriend. Sometimes the same thing applies to guys looking for a friendship to be something more. Once they realize that all they'll have is a friend, they'll stay friends, but look for the other thing somewhere else."

Wanda chewed on the inside of her cheek as she processed Clint's words. She knew part of him was right. The problem was, the part that was correct, was the part saying the things she didn't actually want to hear.

"Thank you," she said quickly, and quietly, went back inside.

"Yeah, life was simpler before boys and dating," Clint said to himself as he went back to his bow after Wanda left him alone.

* * *

Once inside Wanda started making her way up to her room. As she was walking down the hallway, Cooper came out of his room to make his way downstairs.

"Hey Wanda," he said with a smile as they passed each other.

"Coop," she said with a ruffling of his hair. When she moved his hair because of the ruffling she noticed a flash of purple and turned as he passed her. "Hold up, what's that on your face?"

Cooper stopped at the top of the stairs and turned to look at Wanda. His face looked like he wasn't happy to be saying what about to come next.

"Is that a black eye?" she asked in fright as she moved toward him, crouching over to look at his face as she held his chin to keep him steady. "It's nothing," he said, running his hand through his hair.

"A black eye isn't nothing. What happened?" Wanda asked with a raised eyebrow. Cooper didn't answer right away and turned back in the direction of the stairs. "Cooper," she said, her voice carrying a stern enough warning to it to make the Barton's only boy stop dead in his tracks.

"Don't do that," Cooper shivered as he turned back toward Wanda. "You sound like Mom when you do."

"Laura doesn't have the accent."

"It's not the accent," he replied. "It's the vibe coming off you."

"Good to know, now what happened?"

"I…I got into a fight," he told her.

"Cooper, you know better than that," she scolded him.

"Those were Mom's exact words," he pointed out.

"And Clint?"

"He just glared at me."

"Grounded I'm assuming?" Cooper nodded. "How much time did you get?"

"A week. No TV. No video games. No going out."

"That's why you shouldn't fight," Wanda told him.

"Says the Avenger," he said sarcastically.

"What was the fight over?"

He looked at the floor, obviously not wanting to answer. Wanda cleared her throat. "One of my friends…well, uh, he has a thing for you and he was saying some things, and he went a little too far. I told him to stop, he didn't, and the next thing I know, we're on the ground fighting."

Wanda almost wanted to laugh at the idea of one of Cooper's friends have a crush on her. Then she felt some mild awkwardness at the thought of what might be going through his mind. Eww, she thought.

"Cooper, while I appreciate you…defending my honor, next time, just walk away, its less painful. Okay?"

Cooper nodded. He started to make his way down stairs when Wanda called out to him.

"Which friend?"

"Mike."

Of course, it would be him, she thought as she remembered the way the dark-haired, thick glasses wearing couldn't stop staring at her last time he was over. "Say you're sorry."

Cooper gave a two-finger salute and kept going downstairs.

* * *

Wanda was sitting on her bed, reading through a few chapters of a book that she needed to get through for English class. Dinner had come and gone and now she just wanted to get back into the routine of her upcoming school week. She was trying to get through her book, but found herself stuck on the same page for the past few minutes. A knock on her door snapped her out of her daze.

"Come in," she told whomever it was as she sat up against the headboard. The door opened and Laura and Natasha walked in. "Must be really worried about me if both of you are here," she said as she levitated the book to her desk.

"We actually are," Laura as she took a seat at the foot of Wanda's bed. Natasha went and leaned against the desk. She didn't speak, instead she was taking in the sight of Wanda's room.

Natasha hasn't really been here much since dropping Wanda off back in June. It was now October and it was plain to her that Wanda had more than made herself at home. When Wanda had first arrived, the walls were bare, as was the furniture, like the desk she was leaning on. It was just a guest room. Now, this truly was Wanda's room.

The walls were decorated in sketches of New York that she'd drawn, and a few that Steve had given her. There were some posters on the wall of different cities; probably places she'd like to see one day, Natasha thought. On the mirror hanging above the dresser, she'd taped some pictures she'd printed out. Natasha glanced at them and saw that they were pictures of Wanda and, if she didn't know any better, friends from school. The majority of them containing a girl with blue streaked brown hair and an affinity for classic rock band shirts.

The other pictures were of Wanda and Luke. A few were clearly taken by someone else holding the phone or camera since they looked like candids taken when they were out with friends. Most looked like selfies taken by Wanda since the two of them were crammed into the frame. The most telling for Natasha was the one selfie of the two of them, Luke looking into the camera, a cocky little smile on his face, and Wanda who was turned toward him, placing a kiss on his cheek that wasn't on the mirror, but framed on the desk next to family photo of herself, Clint, Laura, and the kids.

I knew I'd be right, Natasha thought with a smirk, they do look cute together.

"I'm fine," Wanda told them, her words bringing the spy out of her assessment.

"Clint talked to us," Natasha revealed.

"Of course he did," she said, sounding annoyed.

"He just figured if you're having boy issues, that maybe talking to us might be better for you," Laura said.

"There's nothing to tell," Wanda groaned.

"Except for some girl coming up to your boyfriend," Natasha pointed out.

"He's not actually my boyfriend," Wanda said, some sadness she hid from Clint when she said it to him seeping through in the presence of Laura and Natasha.

"Even after all the dates?" Laura asked confused.

"And this?" Natasha added as she grabbed the picture of her and Luke.

"Now there's one I haven't seen," Laura smiled as she looked at Wanda, a sweet smile on her face. "Must be recent," she said in Natasha's direction. Both women smiled at each other, getting an eye roll out of Wanda.

"We go out, but, we're always with friends, not alone. Of course that's usually my fault," Wanda said, the last part before either Laura or Natasha could say anything.

"Your fault?" Laura inquired.

"I've never really had a...a -"

"The thought of having a boyfriend scaring you?" Natasha asked as she went and sat next to Wanda on the bed. Laura moved to do the same, sandwiching the teenage girl between them.

"Just a little. It doesn't help that he keeps asking me to the homecoming dance."

"You seem surprised that he would," Laura chuckled. She still found it amazing that Wanda didn't fully believe that a boy could like her.

"I didn't tell you that he was nominated for something called -"

"Homecoming King," Laura and Natasha finished for her in unison.

She nodded.

"That's why I asked Clint what I did. One of girls nominated for queen, the one everyone is pretty sure is gonna win, is starting to get flirty."

"Who's _she_ and why is she starting to?" Natasha asked.

"Summer Violet," Wanda revealed.

"Oh God, that girl," Laura groaned in disgust.

"That's a real name?" Natasha asked unbelievably. "It sounds like a stripper's name."

"She might as well be," Laura said offhandedly.

Summer was the type of girl that most others hated: a tall, even taller than Wanda who was taller than both Natasha and herself, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, girl who looked like she walked out of some fashion magazine. Normally Laura wouldn't be so judgmental with a teenage girl, but Summer was also the type of girl that was used to getting her way and had the terrible attitude that comes from being spoiled rotten to match. Most of the boys at Wanda's school practically threw themselves at her, putting themselves at her beck and call.

Laura could definitely see why Wanda was upset if _that_ girl was the one trying to get her hooks into Luke.

"Summer just keeps mentioning how the two of them are perfect for each other, and winning king and queen would just prove it," Wanda explained.

"Wait a minute, she actually comes around while you and Luke are _together_?" Natasha asked. Wanda nodded. "Skank," Natasha said.

"Not the word I'd use, but that works too," Wanda said. A second later the teenage girl began to laugh to herself.

"You know what you need to do, right?" Natasha told Wanda.

Wanda shook her head.

"You need to go out with that boy," Laura told her bluntly. "And I'm not talking about with a group of friends or anyone else around. Just the two of you. You need to get whatever is going on between the two of you worked out."

Wanda turned toward Natasha and saw her nodding in agreement. Be normal, they've kept telling me, she thought. Embrace the chance to be a teenager. Sometimes being a teenager sucks, she mentally complained. But they're not wrong, she heard a small voice inside her head tell her. She let out a small breath she didn't know she was even holding and decided to just bite the bullet.

She leaned forward toward the foot of the bed and grabbed her phone. Once she was sitting back again, she started pulling up her speed dial. Laura and Natasha looked across her at each other, small hopeful smiles on their faces. They watched as she brought the phone to her ear and waited.

"Hey Luke," she said after a few seconds.

"Hey there, Maximoff. You finally back from the Big Apple?"

"Yeah, I got back earlier today, and...just wanted to, um, do you remember when you asked me out to that carnival that's in town?"

"I vaguely remember doing something like that," she heard him say in mock condescension. Without realizing it, a small smile curved her lips as she heard that familiar cocky tone, mostly because it was accompanied by that same beaming smile he gave her the day they met.

"Well, if you still wanted to take me, I'd -"

"Are we talking about how we normally go out? Or are you saying yes to an actual date? With just me? And no one else."

She couldn't see it, but she could just feel him smiling wickedly on the other end.

"Yes, I mean an actual date," she answered him a full smile now on her face. Laura and Natasha smiled from ear to ear themselves and had to fight off screaming for joy.

"Coach is giving us a day off from practice on Wednesday. We could go then. Pick you up at seven?"

"Okay, see you then," she said. A second later she threw her phone onto her lap. "He's picking me up on Wednesday."

Laura wrapped an arm around Wanda and hugged her. "That wasn't so hard now was it?"

"Not really," Wanda replied. A smile crossed her face immediately after saying it.

"We should get her a new dress," Natasha said with glee.

"I don't need a new dress," Wanda told her.

"Some shoes wouldn't hurt too," Laura added. "I'm thinking a nice ankle boot, something with a small heel, comfortable but still date appropriate."

"I don't need new shoes either," Wanda said.

"We could take her shopping after school tomorrow," Natasha offered. "You and Clint won't mind me staying a few days so I can be here for this right?"

"Not at all," Laura answered.

Oh God, what did I just get myself into, Wanda thought.


	9. Chapter 9

"Wanda you need to calm down," Laura said as she helped the teenager with her make-up. She was trying to help apply some blush but the deep red covering her face was making the task practically impossible.

"I am calm," Wanda responded, her voice shaky.

"No, you're not, you're nervous as hell and it's making you all flush," Natasha said as she looked the girl over in the mirror as Laura tried, in vain, to cover up the redness. She was busy finishing up Wanda's hair, finding her job much easier than Laura's.

"You know," Laura said, her voice softer than it was just a few seconds earlier, "you have no reason to be nervous. You and Luke have been out plenty of times before."

"Never like this," Wanda replied. " _This_ …this is an actual date. Which I've never _actually_ been on."

Natasha pulled the curling iron from the current strand of Wanda's hair and stared at the girl's reflected face. She smiled sympathetically with the girl.

"You mean to tell us that you have never been on a date before tonight?" the redhead asked.

"Not really," Wanda shook her head.

"Like never, ever at all?" Laura added.

Again, Wanda shook her head.

"Moving around from orphanage to orphanage, home to home, then the whole HYDRA experiment stuff; it didn't leave it a lot of time for boys," Wanda explained. "Plus, Pietro was almost as bad as Clint whenever it came to stopping boys from going near me."

Laura and Natasha rolled their eyes at the last part of Wanda's explanation.

"Clint's not that bad is he?" Natasha asked Laura.

"The first time Luke came by, Clint was conveniently doing some target practice with his new bow," Laura answered.

"Luke was afraid to even put his arm around me for three days after watching Clint hit ten bull's-eyes in a row," Wanda revealed.

Wanda started to laugh after a couple of seconds. Laura and Natasha shared a confused look.

"I wonder what Clint will put him through tonight," she then mused.

Laura smiled and Natasha just nodded. "He needs to be glad Steve's not here," Natasha told them. "He's been acting like Clint over this."

"U mene vzhe ye odyn baťko, meni ne potriben inshyy," Wanda muttered.

"Steve's acting more like a big brother than a father," Natasha remarked toward Wanda. Laura just looked over at Natasha. "She said that she's already got one father, she doesn't need another."

"Oh…," Laura said, a small smile curling the end of one side of her lips. Natasha raised her eyebrow at her friend. "I'll tell you later," Laura mouthed back.

"Laura, hold off on the blush for a second," Natasha said as she put the curling iron on the dressing table. She leaned down until she was next to Wanda, cheek to cheek. She motioned for Laura to do the same. "How's she look now that she's calmed down?"

Laura took in the make-up job she'd done. She gave Wanda a softer look with shades closer to her own natural skin tones, though trying to offset the redness earlier did give the appearance of slightly too much blush. She also used a lighter color for Wanda's eyes rather than the dark smoky look the teenage girl favored most days.

Natasha had decided that Wanda needed a more stylish look to her hair for the evening rather than just wearing her hair straight and down as usual. She gave her a swept style with loose ringlets near the end. A little glam will look great on her, the spy thought to herself. And as she surveyed her work she smiled at her correct assumption.

"You look amazing, Wanda," Laura smiled, squeezing her shoulders. "That boy isn't going to know what hit him."

As she looked at her reflection, Wanda almost didn't believe that she was gazing at herself. When she'd asked for some help with her hair and make-up from Laura and Natasha, she just assumed that they'd just offer up some advice on a different look or two. Instead, it was like they turned her bedroom into a salon. It's almost like _they're_ more excited about this date than I am, she thought. But the more she took in the sight of the two women's handiwork, she suddenly felt like they might be right.

* * *

Clint and Luke were sitting together in the living room. Luke was sitting on the couch. Clint in one of the chairs. The feeling in the room was…awkward at best. Luke was sitting quietly, his eyes looking around the room. He'd been over before, many times, even in this very room. But this was the first time he was here for a real date. He knew that. And more importantly, Clint knew that. Which was why whenever he looked over toward Clint, he felt like Clint was sizing him up.

"Nervous, Luke?" Clint finally spoke. His tone was calm, yet there was a strange tone to it. It was as if he was enjoying watching Luke squirm. And, he'd deny it to Wanda, Laura, and Natasha, but he did find the apparent extra nerves that the teenage boy in front of him was feeling just a little bit funny. He also tried not smile at the way Luke refused to even look at him. Mental note, show off accuracy with my bow to Lila's boyfriends when she starts dating, he thought evilly. "Luke, you alright there?" Clint asked again when Luke didn't respond.

"Um…yeah, I mean, yes sir," Luke managed to get out.

"So, not nervous at all, huh?"

"A little," Luke admitted after a few seconds.

Clint's famous smirk curled his lips. "No reason to be nervous, you two have gone out before, after all."

Luke chuckled nervously and wiped his palms on his jeans. "Yeah, but this time we'll be alone, mostly," he said. Clint cocked his eyebrows at Luke. "I meant the crowds. Not her and me alone somewhere with people watching." Immediately Luke's eyes shot open at what he'd just said. They then shut tightly when it crossed his mind what that sounded like to Clint. "That came out wrong, Mr. Barton," he tried to back pedal.

"Just do what Wanda says you've been doing so far, and you'll be fine," Clint said in a moment of mercy. Luke stared back at him, caught off guard as to what Wanda had said about him. "Keep being respectful, don't push or rush her, and don't let anything happen to her. Or is she exaggerating when she tells us those things?"

"No, sir," Luke answered, a small smile finally coming to his face. He didn't know that Wanda had said those things here at home. He definitely didn't think that she'd say them to Clint, Laura maybe, but not Clint.

Before anything else could be said, the two of them heard sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. They both stood up and turned to face the stairs. There was a slight bit of disappointment in Luke, and even Clint, when Laura and Natasha were the first ones down, but that feeling passed when, seconds later, Wanda appeared.

Suddenly Luke felt his palms start to sweat and his mouth go dry. Clint looked on and smiled. Not his usual trademark smirk, but a smile that only a father could get when he realized just how beautiful his daughter really was.

Laura and Natasha had helped Wanda pick out a simple blue long-sleeved dress that came down to about mid-thigh. It had a small thin brown belt that drew the dress in at her waist and two wide stripes at the bottom, one white, the other beige. The same stripes were also on the bottom of the sleeves, though due to Wanda having them rolled up, only the white stripe was visible. They'd also paired the dress with some brown ankle boots that Wanda found more comfortable than they looked.

"Hey, Luke," Wanda said nervously.

Luke tried to speak, but couldn't find the ability to form a coherent sentence and just stood there for a second, slack-jawed. Laura and Natasha just giggled, each one proud knowing that they had helped Wanda render a boy speechless.

"Don't just stand there, boy, say something," Clint said.

"You look beautiful," Luke finally managed to get out, a softer, less cocky version of his normal smile on his face.

Wanda smiled and felt herself doing what she normally did when he looked at her with that smile, blush way too hard.

"Well, you two have fun," Laura said in an effort to break the romantic comedy type moment and get the two of them out on their date. "Luke, have her back by…midnight?" she said hesitantly, looking to Clint for confirmation.

"Sounds good to me," he answered back. "Have fun," he added as he motioned Wanda over to him. She went over and he leaned in and whispered in her ear. "Take care of yourself, call me if you need anything, and feel free to smack him around a little if he starts acting like an ass."

Wanda giggled and was about to pull away when she felt Clint grab her wrist, indicating he wasn't done.

"And by the way, he's right, you do look beautiful."

Wanda finally pulled away and just looked at Clint while fighting back the urge to tear up at his words. She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks, Old Man," she said softly, almost too softly to be heard, but the words didn't escape Laura and Natasha. "Ready?" she asked Luke. He nodded and led her out of the house.

Laura and Natasha rushed to the door, watching as Luke helped Wanda into his car.

"In the pictures in Wanda's room, they looked cute together. In real life, they're practically adorable," Natasha gushed.

"I know, and did you see how he reacted to her in that dress?" Laura concurred.

"You two are acting like that was a surprise," Clint said as he started walking back too they living room to finish watching the game. "One look and anyone could tell he's crazy about her. Now unless you two are going to stand at that door all night, I suggest you find something to fill the time until she gets back. Like I'm doing," he said. Though in his mind he was already thinking about which bow to restring…just in case.


	10. Chapter 10

"So do they have carnivals in Sokovia?" Luke asked as they walked through the carnival holding hands.

Wanda nodded. "Yes we have carnivals. We also have malls, and schools, and churches, and cars that take us from one place to another," she said sarcastically, but with a playful tone and smile.

Luke looked at her embarrassed. "I guess that was kind of a stupid question, huh?"

"No, just a little lacking in common sense," she told him with a small chuckle. "Sokovia was like any place else."

"Do you miss it?"

"Sometimes, but…when the city you grew up in is literally destroyed, you find it's better to start over some place new."

Luke nodded in agreement. "And not that I'm complaining, after all, I like having you around," he started, his comments making Wanda laugh and roll her eyes. "But of all places to start over…the middle of Iowa?"

"It's where they Bartons are from," she answered in the obvious. Luke laughed at her response, which caused her to start laughing to.

"So what do you want to do first; rides, games, or food?" he asked after another minute or two of walking around. Normally he would have already hit up the roller coaster, but he wasn't sure if Wanda was the kind of girl who liked thrill rides.

"Food, definitely, I haven't eaten since lunch," she told him.

"Okay," Luke said slowly, causing Wanda to become suspicious. "You ever had carnival food?"

"Not in America."

Luke smiled and pulled her toward the concession stands. When they got there Wanda began looking over the different options and came to the same conclusion.

"Almost everything's fried."

"I know. Just wait until you taste a fried Oreo," he teased.

"That sounds horrible," she said in mild disgust. "Oreos are prefect already, why cover them in oil?"

"You know it's an attitude like that that'll keep me from getting you a fried Coke to go with it."

"Fried Coke?" she asked in compete disbelief. "How do you fry a drink?"

Luke just smiled excitedly.

"Oh my God, these are amazing," Wanda gushed minutes later as she tasted her first fried Oreo. It was a combination in her mind that shouldn't have worked: chocolate, cream filling, batter, and powdered sugar. But as she chewed on that first confection, it was like her taste buds had died and gone to heaven.

"Told you," Luke said as he reached into the small tray to grab one. Wanda immediately turned to keep them out if his reach.

"Get your own," she playfully scolded him, popping another cookie into her mouth. Luke tried again and Wanda turned even further. Finally Luke just wrapped his arms around Wanda, pinning her arms to her side. Wanda shrieked, then laughed, and they tried to lift a cookie to her mouth, but found she couldn't reach far enough. "Let me go," she laughed.

"Give me an Oreo."

Wanda tried to break loose of his grip, but was reminded that he was as strong as he looked. She knew she shouldn't use her powers, so…

"Uh, fine, you can have one," she said, grabbing a cookie and raising her forearm. Luke leaned down let her put it into his mouth. "Happy now?"

"Definitely," he said through his full mouth.

"Are you going to let me go?" she asked, her head turned to look at him.

Luke shook his head. "I kind of like holding you like this."

"If you don't let me go, then we can't go on any rides or play any of the games." Luke looked down at her and raised his eyebrows. "Laura and Nat said I should make you win me a stuffed animal or something."

"Let's go then," he's replied confidently, letting her go. Since her hands were occupied, he wrapped his arm around her and they started moving toward the games.

* * *

"Winner, winner, winner," the carny shouted as the bell sounded to the balloon popping from being filled with water. He reached up and grabbed a giant stuffed gorilla from the wall above the shelf protecting them from being splashed on and handed it to the little ten year old girl who won it. She jumped up and down, smiling as she showed it to her mother. The mother smiled and took a picture of her daughter with her phone and then they walked off to another game.

"I lost to a ten year old girl," Luke said dryly.

Wanda smiled, but tried not to laugh for the sake of Luke's pride. That attempt lasted all of maybe fifteen seconds before she couldn't hold it in any longer.

"It's not _that_ funny," he said.

"It's a little funny," Wanda giggled. "Especially since that was what…your third try?" Luke nodded.

"You know, that game is harder than it looks."

"I bet Clint could win every time," she smiled. "Maybe accuracy isn't how you're going to win me something."

"And just how do you suppose I will Maximoff?"

Wanda stepped to him and draped her arms over his shoulders. Their faces were inches apart and each of them wanted to close the distance. Wanda could smell his cologne and she felt her head spin. Their faces leaned in quickly, their lips grazing each other. Surprisingly, Luke could still taste the Oreos on her lips and he had to resist the urge to go in for another taste.

"So how do you want me to do it?"

"Hmm, do what?" Wanda whispered.

"Win you a prize," Luke whispered back.

"Oh…yeah, a prize," Wanda cleared her throat. She smiled up at him and then turned her head to her left. Luke turned and saw what she was looking at

"The hammer game?"

Wanda slid her arms down until her hands were on his arms. She smiled at him while squeezing. "These seem big enough to get the job done."

Luke grinned at her and led her over. After handing attendant the tickets to play, Luke grabbed the mallet, hauled it back and over his head. He brought it down with a strong swing, and the puck rose, stopping just inches from the bell. A small group of people watching let out an "aww" at the unsuccessful attempt. Not to be defeated, especially when it came to trying to impress Wanda, Luke handed the attendant another few tickets.

Luke then took his second attempt. He hit the base with what looked to the same amount of force as the first time, but this time, the puck made it all the way, the bell giving off a loud ring.

"Yes," Wanda celebrated as walked up to Luke and gave him a big kiss on the lips surprising the both of them. Luke smiled at her, his eyebrows raised. Wanda blushed and brushed hair back behind her ear.

"Which one you want?" they heard the carny ask. They turned to look at him, both a little confused. "Which prize do you want? Hurry up, I got more people that want to play?"

Wanda looked up at the prizes, scanning them until her eyes caught sight of something just plain ironic and smiled. She pointed to what she'd found and she was handed a large stuffed bear dressed like Thor.

"The things a boy will do for a pretty girl," Wanda heard an older woman behind her say as they started to walk off. She looked over her shoulder and grinned at the woman.

"Swung that better than Thor, probably," Luke said to Wanda.

I'll ask him to do that so I can find out, Wanda thought with a slight smile

"Yes, yes you did," she said, stroking Luke's ego just a little bit. "And thank you," she added with a kiss to his cheek.

* * *

"Well if it isn't Little Orphan Annie," Wanda and Luke heard from behind them a few minutes later. They turned around and much to their annoyance, especially Wanda's, was…

"Hey, Summer," Wanda said through a forced smile.

"Wanda," Summer greeted cheerfully, though Wanda could literally feel the fake emotion. "Hi, Luke," she flirted.

"Summer," he said flatly. Already he could see this ending badly if the situation was allowed to go on too long.

"So what are you two doing here?"

"We're on a date," Wanda answered, doing her best to not sound angry, but failing just a little bit.

"Really?" Summer looked the two of them over, paying a little closer attention to Wanda. "Well that explains Wanda cleaning up. That's such a pretty dress," she complimented in her best bitch voice.

"I think she looks beautiful," Luke countered sincerely. The genuine compliment brought a smile to Wanda's face.

Summer huffed. "So how do I look?" she asked, twirling for him to show off her black, low cut crop top and denim miniskirt, an outfit a little too revealing for a October in Iowa. Even though she was vying for Luke's attention, she noticed the gazes of several of the other males around them looking at her exposed tanned skin. She practically ate up the attention.

"You look nice," Luke said quickly, and even Summer noticed, insincerely.

Wanda let out a quick laugh, and then reigned it in even quicker. Summer became annoyed that she didn't have Luke eating out of the palm of her hand.

"Thank you," she said in derision. "You know, me and my friends are hanging out by the food stands. We'll be there a little longer…if you decide you wanna let me show you a real night out." She almost started laughing at the look of anger that flashed over Wanda's face at that offer. "Later," she waved as she walked off.

Luke could hear Wanda practically growl and start walking after her. He quickly grabbed her by the shoulders and started pulling her in the other direction. "Alright, let's get you away from her," he said as he pulled her toward the Ferris wheel.

A while later, the two of them were sitting in one of the Ferris wheel cars, Wanda still visibly upset. "You need to calm, down," Luke told her gently.

"Calm down? I tell her we're on a date, and that bitch keeps flirting with my boy –" Wanda stopped herself before she finished that sentence. But the damage had already been done.

"Your _what_?" Luke asked, that glowing, confident smile on his face.

"Don't get cocky," Wanda told him.

"Can't help it," he grinned. "Besides, you like it when I get that way every now and then."

"This," she motioned with a waving finger between them, "is not one of those mo-mmm."

Wanda never got to finish that sentence either because Luke used that exact moment to grab Wanda by the face, pull her toward him, and kiss her. The kiss lasted for a few seconds before Wanda pulled away. "What was that?"

"I've been wanting to do that all night," he told her.

"Don't wait so long next time," she told him before leaning in and kissing him.

After a few minutes, Luke broke the kiss this time. "Just who was Summer flirting with?"

Wanda smiled at him and rolled her eyes. "Fine, that bitch kept flirting with _my boyfriend_. Happy?"

"Oh yeah," Luke gloated before the two of them started making out. For the rest of the ride, nothing more was said and the only sounds were the occasional sigh and moan. Eventually, the ride started coming to a stop, and soon the two teenagers found themselves being caught by the attendant running the ride.

"Hey, come on, ride's over you two," he shouted at them.

Without breaking their make-out session, Wanda reached into Luke's jacket and pulled out the tickets he had in there. She didn't know if they were enough, and honestly, she didn't care, but, without even looking, threw them at the attendant. Before he could even say anything, she then used her powers to shut the door.

* * *

The front door opened and Wanda walked in. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it, a dreamy-eyed look on her face, hugging the stuffed bear to her. "How'd it go, Kid?" she heard Clint yell from the living room. "You alright in there?" Clint asked when Wanda didn't answer.

She nodded, forgetting that Clint couldn't see her from he was sitting.

"Wanda?" he asked.

"So, it was a good night?" she heard Laura ask, her voice sounding closer. She looked up and saw her and Natasha standing at the doorway to the foyer and the living room. They were both smiling at finding the way Wanda was practically looking like she was about to start floating. "Did he win you that bear?"

"To hell with the bear," Natasha grinned. "Did he kiss you?"

Wanda nodded.

"So now is it safe for us to say that Wanda has a boyfriend?" Natasha asked hopefully.

Another nod. Both women squealed loud enough that even Clint's attention was grabbed. That's just awesome, he thought glibly. Laura and Natasha raced over to Wanda and started rushing her upstairs.

"Come on, we want details," Laura said as Clint watched the three of them move from sight.

"If she can even talk," Natasha laughed.

"She has school tomorrow," Clint shouted up at them.

"Oh hush up, Clint," Laura yelled downstairs.

Clint leaned back into the couch, the TV droning on unwatched now. He pulled his phone out and typed in a text into it.

 _Clint: She's back. He's the boyfriend now._

 _Steve: Thanks for heads up. Tony and Sam told me to let you know we're one call away if he screws up with her._

 _Clint: Good to know. Thanks Cap._


	11. Chapter 11

Wanda never considered herself popular growing up. Being an orphan usually made her an outcast. Even now, with both her parents and brother gone, there were times when she felt like she didn't fit in anywhere. The Avengers went out of their way to make her feel like she was one of them. And the Bartons did everything possible to let her know that they considered her family. But those were extreme circumstances that she just happened to luck out with she told herself.

But when she was around people her own age, she always felt at best, invisible, and at worst, like she was a target for stares and comments.

So as she sat at lunch with Luke and a few of his friends, mostly members of the football and baseball teams, or rather on Luke's lap, she felt a little awkward. Luckily for her, a few of the lessons that Natasha had given her came in handy for not showing it. She was done with her own lunch as was just sitting back, her right arm around his shoulders to support herself. One of his hands was at the small of her back, his thumb lightly rubbing back and forth across it.

"What are you doing after school?" Luke asked as he pushed his tray away from himself.

"You mean besides sitting in the bleachers watching you practice?"

"Not today," Luke corrected her. "Coach cancelled practice."

"Which means?" Wanda wondered.

"Party tonight," said Max, one of Luke's teammates on the football team. "My house."

"So we need to get there right after school?" Wanda questioned.

Luke and a few of the other guys laughed. "No, but I figured I could drop you off at home and pick you up later after you made yourself pretty," he smiled at her.

Normally, she would have her standard reaction of feeling the need to blush, but a specific set of words caught her attention, and she couldn't help herself. She had to respond and as she thought of what to say, she had one additional thought: I've been hanging out with Clint too much, she smiled inside her own mind.

" _Make_ myself pretty? You mean I'm not pretty right now?"

Luke was speechless as he looked at his girlfriend. There were a few chuckles and some comments at Wanda's question to him. "Smooth there, Lukey," Max laughed as he looked at Wanda. "If it helps, Wanda I think you look, beautiful," he added, not being able to help himself from having some fun with the situation.

"Thank you," Wanda said, then looked back down at her boyfriend.

"I didn't mean it like that," Luke backpedaled. "What I meant was…what I should've said…," he trailed off, thinking of the best possible way to stop this. "You're very pretty."

"He said beautiful," she pointed at Max, a sarcastic smile on her face.

"How long are you going to make me squirm?" Luke finally asked.

Wanda smiled at him and then started to laugh. She leaned down and gave him a kiss on the lips, her hands cradling his face. She could hear the comments of, "ugh, not again" and "get a room" from the others at the table. She ignored them, like she usually did, and just kept on kissing her boyfriend until she heard another, far more displeased voice.

"Such public displays of affection are against the rules, you two."

Wanda and Luke's lips separated from each other and they looked up to see the source of the voice. They saw one of the school's vice principals standing by them. His face was stern and he looked like what they'd been doing was the most aggravating thing in the world to him at that moment.

"Sorry, Mr. Epley," Luke to him.

"Yeah, sorry, sir," Wanda added, her cheeks becoming warm from being caught.

"Tell me, Miss Maximoff, is there something structurally wrong with the empty chair that's next to you?" Mr. Epley asked of her.

"Um…no sir," she answered slowly.

"Then maybe you can tell me why you've decided on such an alternate seating option."

"Sorry, sir," she replied as she got up from Luke's lap and sat on the empty chair.

"Better," Mr. Epley said with a nod of his head before walking away. There were a few laughs from the rest of the table as they watched the vice principal leave. Once he was gone, Wanda said she would be right back and got up to go to the restroom.

"Maybe I can make myself pretty," she teased Luke.

"I'm not living that down for a while am I?" he asked. Wanda shook her head and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

Wanda was walking through the cafeteria to get to the restroom when she felt someone bump into her shoulder from behind. "Excuse me," Wanda said as she turned to see who the person was. Wanda groaned mentally, as she came face to face with a blue-eyed blonde and a pair of tag-a-longs that acted like they were serving s queen. While the groan was mental, Wanda's eye roll did not go unnoticed.

"Hi Wanda," Summer said in her usual fake cheery tone that made Wanda just want to slap her.

"Summer…hi."

"So where are you going in such a hurry?"

"No hurry, just need use the restroom," Wanda told her.

"Powdering our nose are we? It _is_ looking a little shiny," Summer insulted.

"No, just using it," Wanda replied, reminding herself that it would be very bad to do some of the things she sometimes imagined doing to the girl in front of her.

"While you're there, you should think about touching up your eye make-up. It looks a little amateurish," Summer jabbed, her two friends laughing like sycophants. "After all, you need to look good for that hunk you're dating."

Breathe Wanda, she told herself, be the bigger person and _don't_ punch her in that fake smile of hers.

" _My_ boyfriend thinks I look just fine," Wanda countered.

"Hmm, then maybe I should head on over there. If he thinks you look… _fine_. He's going to think I look amazing."

Wanda took in a deep breath, not caring if Summer saw her trying to control herself. "You stay away from my boyfriend, before I make them have to do another nose job." Summer gasped and brought her hand to her nose. "Goodbye," she said in _her_ best bitch voice.

She made it all of five steps before she heard Summer's voice one more time.

"Fine, go do what you need to. Then you can come back and climb back on Luke's lap like the little slut you are."

Wanda stopped dead in her tracks. Don't do it, Wanda, she heard that voice in her head telling her. Just like you told Cooper a while back, walk away. She was just about to listen to that voice until she heard Summer's friends laughing and one of them mutter the same insult. Screw it, she thought, it'll be worth it. Turning on her heel, she charged toward Summer, pulled her arm back, and let loose the hardest slap she could muster. Summer recoiled from the impact, her balance knocked off for a second. Her two friends stood watching in open mouthed amazement.

"Zvernit' vas, suka ," Wanda said as Summer started turning around, her hand to her cheek.

"What is your problem, you bitch?" Summer shouted at Wanda as she started to throw her own hand at her, intending to hit her at least as hard as she'd just been. However, Wanda caught Summer's wrist and pulled her toward her, only to then let go of Summer's arm and push her back. What Wanda didn't count on was Summer rushing at her and landing a punch to her chin. At that point Wanda lunged at Summer, dipping at the last second and spearing her to the ground. After that, the fight turned into a combination of slapping, hair pulling, scratching and clawing, and punching as the two girls rolled on the ground, each one trying to do as much damage to the other as possible.

The students at the surrounding tables got up, pushing the tables and chairs away inadvertently in their haste to surround the two brawling girls. Shouting and cheering started almost immediately as the crowd watched. Soon enough Mr. Epley forced his way through the throng of students and tried to separate the two girls. Unfortunately, Summer and Wanda refused to stop and he realized that he was going to need help. Luckily for him, Luke rushed in and began to help, wrapping his arms around Wanda's waist and pulling her up and of Summer. Unluckily for Luke, as Mr. Epley was trying to hold back Summer, who had gotten up from the floor and tried to charge back at Wanda, she swung her legs at Wanda and the momentum from being held back caused her legs to swing higher than intended and kick Luke in the face. Before Wanda could retaliate for him, campus security arrived and helped to restrain the two screaming and angered girls.

"Get them to the office," Mr. Epley shouted as security practically dragged Wanda and Summer out of the cafeteria.

* * *

Laura was doing some reading in the sunroom. Nate was asleep in his playpen. Clint was out in the field harvesting the corn. The kids were in school. She didn't have any clients to deal with. It was an atypical slow, typical late October Friday. She was lost in the plot of her book when the ringing of her cell phone snapped her back into reality.

"Hello?" she said upon answering. "Yes, I'm Wanda's guardian…She what?" Laura nearly screamed into the phone, her eyes nearly popping out of her head. "Oh my God, I am so sorry…Yes, sir, my husband and I will be down there right away," she said as she hung up.

She immediately started dialing Clint, praying he answered quickly.

"Yeah, babe," he said finally.

"Clint, Wanda's school just called, we need to get down there now."

"Okay, calm down. What happened?"

"She got into a fight," Laura told him.

* * *

Clint and Laura were led into Mr. Epley's office. Wanda was shuffling in behind them. Nate was in his carrier being a little fussy, but otherwise behaving. They sat down in front of the vice-principal, who looked like he had calmed down, but was still seething with anger over what had happened.

"Mr. and Mrs. Barton, I'm sorry to be calling you down here like this," Mr. Epley began as he leaned into his desk. "Especially since Wanda is actually a rather good student. However, what transpired today cannot be ignored because of that."

"We understand," Clint said as he and Laura glanced over at Wanda. They took stock of Wanda's injuries. There were a few scrapes on her face, nothing serious that would be noticeable. There was some dried blood around the corner of Wanda's mouth and on her cheek just under her right eye, but right now they couldn't tell if it was Wanda's or Summer's. But what made Laura almost want to throttle Summer was Wanda's most obvious injury, the fairly good sized bruise forming on her chin from where Summer had caught her off guard.

"Wanda, do you want to tell them what happened? Or do I need to?" Mr. Epley told her.

"Wanda, start talking," Clint demanded when she sat silently.

"Summer started the whole thing," Wanda stated.

"Actually," Mr. Epley interrupted. "According to some of the other students, Wanda threw the first punch."

Wanda scoffed at that. Clint glared over at her, but she continued explaining before he could say anything. "Summer bumped into me and started talking crap to me like she usually does," Wanda started.

"So you decided to punch her?" Laura asked.

"I didn't punch her…I slapped her," Wanda clarified. "And it was only after she called me a slut."

"She called you a…," Laura started, stopping before she finished the sentence knowing it would enrage her. "Please tell me someone heard that?" she asked of Mr. Epley.

He nodded. "A few students did mention that that comment seemed to be the precursor to the fight. Now I'm not excusing what happened, but we simply cannot have our students starting fights simply because they've been randomly insulted."

"It's not random," Wanda said without thinking. "I have to deal with that bi…Summer's…comments every day. I'm tired of her."

"Maybe you are, but you can't go around smacking her," Clint said. "And what about the other girl? I'm assuming that she's also going to find her way in here?"

"As soon she gets out of the nurse's office."

"Nurse's office? What kind of shape is she in?" Laura questioned.

"Busted lip and a broken nose," Mr. Epley answered her.

Laura looked over at Wanda wide-eyed. "You broke her nose?"

"Well none of this blood is mine," Wanda replied with a small smile.

"Don't gloat," Laura said irritated. "Mr. Epley, I am so sorry for her behavior. Wanda knows better and I can assure you, she will _not_ be doing this again. Will you Wanda?"

"As long as Summer stays away from me," she said glibly.

"Keep talking," Clint said to her. "You're just making that grounding worse."

" _Grounding_? But she started the fight," Wanda defended herself.

"You threw the first hit," he countered. Wanda opened her mouth to speak, but Clint quieted her with a look. "So what's going to happen to her here, sir?"

"I'm suspending her and Summer for a week."

"A week?" Wanda almost shouted. "But I was –"

"Wanda that's enough," Clint cut her off. "Is there anything else?"

"She'll have to attend some in-school suspension for three days when she gets back, but that's about it," Mr. Epley finished.

"Once again, we are so sorry about this," Laura reiterated.

"As am I. I just hope that there will be no further situations like this between those two. There won't be, will there, Miss Maximoff?"

"As long as Summer leaves me alone," Wanda replied sarcastically.

"Wanda," Clint let out.

"I'm already grounded," she told him. When she saw him give her a glare, she immediately cleared her throat. "I mean, no sir."

With that, Clint and Laura picked up baby Nate and led Wanda out of the office.

* * *

"I can't believe you two are mad at me," Wanda said angrily as she blew passed the front door and toward the stairs. She made it halfway up the stairs when Clint and Laura came in behind her.

"Get down here, Wanda, we still need to talk to you," Clint called after her.

"About what?" she said from the stairs.

"About your fighting at school," he clarified for her. "So, get down here," he said sternly.

Wanda groaned in frustration and stomped her way back down the stairs and towards the living room as Clint and Laura motioned her toward it. She fell onto the couch and waited as Clint and Laura stood over her.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Clint started.

"We want an answer," Laura told her when she sat quietly.

"I already told you, Summer started talking crap to me, insulting my make-up, saying she was gonna go talk to Luke, and then she called me a slut. That's when I let her have it."

"So you thought hitting her was the best decision?" Clint questioned.

"I slapped her first."

"Don't get smart and don't split hairs," Laura said.

"Just being specific," Wanda muttered.

"Do you know stupid a decision it was to start a fight with her?" Clint asked.

"Stupid? The only stupid one was her when she decided to insult me," Wanda almost shouted at him. "Because in case you were wondering, I'm pretty sure I'm the one who won that fight."

Oh my God, Wanda is so preoccupied with her anger with that girl that she really can't see the bigger picture here, Clint thought as he struggled to keep his temper in check. He rarely felt anger like he was feeling now, the kind that only a father can feel when the kid he thought he knew acted so wildly out of character, as if they knew everything they needed and he – and Laura – were just nuisances to the situation.

"You really don't get it, do you?" Clint asked her, though it sounded more like a statement. "Do you not realize the kind of damage you could do in a fight? What would've happened if you'd lost control and used your powers?" he ranted at her.

"But I didn't?" she raised to her voice to him.

"This time," he pointed out to her. His own voice was raised now, not to the point of shouting, but very close to it.

"Okay, Clint, Wanda, why don't you two calm down a little," Laura tried to intervene after putting Nate down in his playpen.

"But what if this happens again? What if you can't keep control and the next thing we know, we're hearing about what happened from a news report saying that half the school got blown off?" Clint posed to Wanda.

"That would never happen," Wanda said back to him, standing up to confront him. "I've gotten pretty good about controlling my powers. All that little skank needs to worry about is what I can do to her with my bare hands."

"And that's the other thing," Clint growled. "With the training you're getting from Nat and Steve, plus me when you're home, there is no telling how badly you could hurt someone like her. God, Wanda, did that ever cross your mind when you breaking her nose?"

"Are you really defending _her_?" Wanda shouted at him.

"No, what I'm doing is trying to force you to realize that you of all people can't just go out there acting like that angry kid from six months ago who was concerned about nothing but revenge because of what happened to her parents," he yelled at her.

Wanda didn't react at first. She just stood there, fighting the urge to hit him as well. If Clint knew how much effort she was putting into not doing something to him, he would've actually been proud because it meant that their argument did dig deep. But instead, all he and Laura saw were Wand's eyes watering at the mention of her parents. They knew that Pietro was a sore spot for her, but right now was when they realized just how much of a red button her parents still were.

"Ydy do bisa," she said to him before storming off toward the stairs.

"Wanda," Clint called after her staying in the living room as she started making her way up to her room. "Wanda, we're not done. Wanda," he said, shouting her name at the end.

"Stop yelling at me like you're my father," she said as she came down a few steps so he could see her as she leaned against the banister. "In case you've forgotten – you're not," she yelled at him, her voice going so loud that the last words came out as a screech.

Clint and Laura watched her walk the stairs out of sight, but continued to hear her boots stomping on the top steps and then along the hallway. A moment later they heard the door to her bedroom slam shut. The sound of the slam caused Nate to start crying. Laura immediately picked him and started calming him down. "Babe, are you okay?" she asked Clint when she saw him staring up at the stairs. He wasn't angry, or if he was that wasn't the expression on his face. If she had to place it, she could swear it looked like…sadness. "Clint?"

"I'll be in the barn," he said way too calmly for Laura's liking. She watched him walk out of the house, down the porch, and toward the barn. She wanted to follow him to make sure he was going to be alright. She also wanted to check on Wanda for the same reason. But she knew that the time for that – for both of them – wasn't right now. Right now, she just sat down on her couch, holding her youngest to her, and as she felt him calm down and stop crying, she started to.


	12. Chapter 12

Wanda was laying on her bed, her body feeling numb after what had just happened. She had stopped crying in the time since the argument, but was still feeling anger over the whole thing. She heard a knock on the door followed by Laura's voice.

"Wanda, I'm coming in."

Wanda sat up and saw Laura walk in, her expression far more serious than she had ever seen it in the time she'd been here.

"Laura, look, I'm —," Wanda began, only to be stopped by a held up hand from Laura.

"Wanda, when you came to live with us, we – me and Clint, and the kids – we understood that you were bringing with you some…history. And we have been very accommodating about it. But that does not give you the right to yell at us, or say certain things to us. Clint and I know that we are not your mother and father, but you will _not_ throw that in our faces simply because you don't like being confronted about you breaking the rules. You are seventeen, you are not an adult yet. And like I already said, we know we're not your parents, but we are the closest thing to it right now. And while you are in this house, you will show me, _and Clint_ , a certain respect, and that will start by me finding out that by tomorrow at the latest, that you have apologized to him for earlier. Am I clear?"

Wanda sat in stunned silence. This was the first time that Laura had spoken to her like this. She almost felt upset by it, but bit down on her tongue to keep herself from saying something to make her even angrier.

"I want an answer young lady."

"Yes. Yes ma'am," she answered, her voice just above a whisper, her eyes looking down at her blanket.

"You're also grounded – two weeks, one for the fight, one for what you did to Clint." Wanda nodded. "No TV. You can go to school, but will come right back after it. No going out with Luke or with your friends. And I want your phone," Laura dictated, holding out her hand.

"Can I at least find out how he's doing? He, kind of, got kicked in the face when breaking me and Summer apart," Wanda explained.

"I'll give you thirty minutes, then I'm coming back for it."

Wanda nodded and watched Laura leave. Once Laura was gone, she proceeded to check on Luke, who said he was okay, that he just had a bruised jaw. She told him that she was grounded and that he couldn't pick her up for the party later. Once she was done with that, she sent another text to someone else.

 _I need a pick up. 12, after everyones asleep._

Then she deleted the evidence.

* * *

Wanda closed and locked the door to her bedroom after checking the hallway and making sure that everyone was asleep. She shut off the lamp next to her bed and walked over to her window. She opened it and paused for a second. She heard a small voice telling her not to do this. That things were already tense enough. But her anger was overriding her good judgment at the moment.

She looked back toward her bedroom door and then turned back to the window and climbed into the windowsill. She took a deep breath, and with a glowing of her eyes, fired a burst of power from her hands and launched herself out into night. She felt the chilled air race past her as she moved through the sky. Finally, after nearly two minutes of flight, she brought herself back down, landing just before the edge of the farm. She was thankful for the farm being on ten acres of land. It gave her room to do what she'd just done without the risk of being seen by people driving up.

As it was, she still had to walk for about ten minutes to reach the road that led into the property. Once she was there, she looked around for a few minutes until she finally saw a pair of headlights appear and coming toward her. A ten year old Chevy Malibu pulled up and lowered the passenger side window. The driver leaned over and looked at Wanda, a wicked grin on her face.

"Hey baby, how much for a good time?" she asked with a laugh.

"Hello to you too, Celeste," Wanda laughed and got in. As she was putting on her seat belt, Celeste turned the music she'd been listening to back on, the music of the Sex Pistols starting to blast through the car.

"So where are we going for this prison break?" asked the nearly total blue-haired girl.

"You know about the party at Luke's friend's house right?"

"You mean that cute piece of hunk Max?" Celeste asked with a grin.

"Yeah, that one," Wanda nodded, somehow forgetting her friend's crush on Lucas' friend. "We're headed there."

Celeste nodded and started driving. After a few minutes, once they had hit the main road back toward the downtown area, which they needed to pass through to get to Max's house, was when Celeste decided to prod Wanda for a little information.

"So, not that I'm not honored and excited to be apart of Wanda Maximoff finally cutting loose and engaging in wanton acts of teenage rebellion, but considering that your uber-hot boyfriend is going to that same party, is there a reason he's not picking you up?"

Wanda looked out the window.

"Hello? Earth to Wanda."

"Because he knows I'm grounded, and he's too afraid of Clint to help me sneak out."

"So I'm the one who has to face Daddy Clint's icy stare?" Celeste asked in mock indignation.

"Don't mention those two words please," Wanda told Celeste as she began tapping her hand against the window in rhythm to the music.

"What? Icy glare?"

"Daddy and Clint," Wanda clarified for her. "He's not my father, remember?" Celeste took in a deep breath while her face took on a tone that revealed she was holding back. "What?"

"I'm…just thinking, and I don't mean to piss you off, but…does this have anything to with why you're grounded? You know, the whole laying a beat down on the Queen Bitch herself?"

Wanda swallowed hard and contemplated changing the subject, but then decided against it. After Luke, Celeste was one of the first, and few people, who made an effort to be nice to the new girl. Wanda remembered back to her first day at school, feeling alone when lunch came around and she had nowhere and no one to sit with since Luke's schedule at the time had him in the second lunch break. She recalled eating in the stairwell that led to the cafeteria that first day, sitting on the steps, students stepping around her.

On the second day she was prepared for a repeat performance when, as she was passing by a table with a single person on it, she was almost tripped by a chair sliding out in front of her. She looked around and saw a short, petite girl with dark brown hair that had thick streaks of blue mixed in and wearing a pair of rose-colored circle glasses and a Motley Crue T-shirt.

"Excuse you?" Wanda said, almost offended at the act.

"Sorry, kicked that a little harder than I meant to," said the girl. "I meant to push it out far enough so you could sit. I saw you sitting on the stairs yesterday, that's not cool," she explained. She then waved her head toward the chair, indicating the offer to sit was still there. Wanda looked around a bit confused, but then sat down. "Name's Celeste," she smiled.

"Wanda."

"Well you're certainly not from around here," Celeste said, leaning into the table, amazed to find someone interesting in, what she felt, was the redundant normalcy that was small town Iowa. "What interesting place did you have to leave to end up here?"

"Sokovia," Wanda answered after a second.

Celeste nodded and took a bite of the chicken she'd chosen from the lunch line. "Being new sucks doesn't it?" she asked through a mouthful. Wanda raised her eyebrows in the affirmative. "I was the new girl last year. At least you got to start at the beginning of the year. I got here two weeks before Christmas break," Celeste revealed. "At least you have time to make friends – by the way, we are friends."

Wanda looked at Celeste puzzle. She reminds me of somebody, she thought, but was finding it hard to place just whom it was.

The memory of that first meeting, and all the time since that had pretty much cemented Celeste as her best friend weighed on Wanda, and soon she found herself telling her what had happened once Clint and Laura brought her home after the fight. She was crying by the end of the story, but Wanda was thankful that she wasn't sobbing uncontrollably like she had been after the argument.

"Okay…so, I didn't know you two went at it that bad," Celeste said shocked. "Do you think you might've been a little hard on him?"

Wanda looked over across the seats.

"Still on your side here," Celeste defended herself. "After all, the Town Ho did start it, but I'm just saying, your parent's reaction was normal. And don't act like they're not your parents," Celeste cut Wanda off when she saw Wanda start to open her mouth. "I've been to your house. I've seen how you act with them, especially Clint. And take if from someone whose mother made her go through multiple auditions for possible step-dads, I'd kill for what you two got."

"Can we not do this now?" Wanda complained.

"Look, all I'm saying is –"

"Again, can we not do this now?" Wanda tried again. She felt herself becoming frustrated at the memory of the argument and felt her head becoming stressed.

"Do you think that maybe you were a little hard on –"

"I don't want to talk about Clint right now," Wanda shouted. As she let out her exclamation, she felt a burst of power radiate out from her, almost like a shockwave moving out from an explosion and heard what sounded like a small actual explosion. She didn't know if she had actually sent out anything in her moment of anger, but whatever did happen caused Celeste to lose control of the car. She heard the tires screech and Celeste shouting at her to hold on before Wanda looked up and saw the telephone pole in front of them. She felt the impact of the car ramming into it and then everything went black.

* * *

The sound of the phone was jarring. Laura just wanted to pretend it was part of her dream and ignore it. But once it stopped and started all over again, she knew that was going to be impossible. Without lifting her head from the pillow, she reached over to her bedside table and felt around for the device. Once her hand slapped on top of it she fumble with it until she had it in her grip. She turned and finally opened her eyes, the light from the phone's screen feeling like it was burning her retinas. After a second of letting them adjust, she swiped the screen and pulled the phone to her.

"Hello?" she said groggily.

"Laura," came the frantic voice on the other end.

"Who's this?" Laura asked not recognizing the voice in her haze.

"It's Norma Haslik, Celeste's mother," said the voice. "I'm sorry to wake you, but it's an emergency. I'm at the hospital, the girls were in a car accident and are here at the ER."

"Girls?" Laura asked confused.

"Celeste and Wanda."

"Wanda's grounded. She's here in her room," Laura said, assuming that she was correcting Celeste's mother.

"Laura, I'm telling you, she's here. I'm looking at her right now – she's unconscious."

"Hold on," Laura said as she sat up, the sleep leaving her at the mentioning of the words "Wanda" and "unconscious". She leaned over and started shaking Clint awake. He groaned and rolled over into his pillow. "Babe, wake up. It Celeste's mother, she says Wanda's hurt."

"Celeste?" Clint groaned without raising his head.

"Celeste – Wanda's friend. The one with the blue in her hair. Do me a favor and go check Wanda's room," she told him with a shove. Clint got up and left to check on Wanda. "Which hospital are you at?" she asked Norma, preparing for the possibility that the woman was correct, but hoping that when Clint got back he'd say that Wanda was home, asleep in her bed.

"Waverly General."

"Grounded for life," Clint muttered as he walked back in and turned on his bedside lamp. Oh God, Laura thought as she watched Clint start to get dressed.

"We're on our way," she told Norma as she hung up. "Clint," she called to her husband as she watched him throw on a shirt.

"Fighting."

"Clint," Laura said to no avail. As she watched him angrily finish putting on his pants she realized that he probably didn't hear her say that Wanda might be in hurt when she woke him.

"Sneaking out," he kept going.

"Clint," Laura tried again.

"She's gonna be the only Avenger that needs permission to go on a mission," Clint was still muttering as he sat on the bed and started putting on his sneakers.

"Clint she's hurt," Laura said loud enough to finally get his attention. Clint froze and looked over his shoulder at her. "She's at Waverly General. Car accident."

He stared at her, his face blank. They looked at each other in silence. "Stay here with the kids," Clint told her as he stood up. Laura nodded.

"Call me if something's wrong. Definitely call me if she's okay. You know what, just call me."

"Yeah," Clint replied as he walked out of the bedroom.

* * *

The street was almost empty. There were a few stragglers still scrambling for the evacuation boats. Some screams could still be heard from the injured. Explosions and gunfire could be heard all around her. She's could smell burning metal and see burning cars and buildings. There was carnage and destruction everywhere. The streets were littered with the obliterated remains of shops, cars – the city as a whole.

This was the terror rained down by Ultron and his sentries as Wanda found herself back home. She looked around confused. This is all wrong, she thought. I shouldn't be here. I should be at the church, protecting the device.

Suddenly, the sound of automatic gunfire caught her attention. She turned and saw a quintet, battered and bruised as it was, screaming through the sky maybe less than a hundred feet away from her, too low to trying to be get away. She looked closer and saw Ultron in the pilot's seat. As she thought about what she should do, Wanda watched as the quinjet's Gatling gun started firing. She turned in the direction of its path and became horrified.

Clint was holding a little boy who looked maybe a year or two younger than Cooper, and he was staring down the bullets as they came toward him. She was saw the look on his face that bordered between anger and acceptance. She watched him turn, putting his back to gunfire, and himself between the bullets and the boy.

"Clint, run," Wanda shouted at him. She raised her hands to move him and the boy herself, but nothing happened. The dust suddenly picked up from the bullets hitting the ground, obscuring her view of Clint. When the dust settled, she looked back and saw Clint on his knees, the boy still in his arms. Her hands covered her mouth in horror.

Steve ran up and began checking on him. Wanda watched as Clint gave Steve the boy. Steve put the boy over his shoulder and tried to put Clint's arm over the other. She watched Clint shove him off and motion for him to leave. Steve hesitated, but, after Wanda made out the mouthed words, "I'm coming back for you", grabbed the boy and left. Seconds later, Wanda watched as Clint lost the ability to stay upright and fell forward.

Wanda sprinted over to Clint. She fell to her knees as she skidded the last few feet. "Oh my God," she gasped as she reached him. She pulled him until he was on his back. She became terrified as she saw the multiple bullet holes in his uniform. "Clint. Clint!" she called him. "Clint, look at me. Please Clint."

Clint struggled to turn his head. Finally he faced Wanda and weakly opened his eyes. "Hey, Kid," he whispered.

"Oh my God. No, no, no, no – it didn't happen this way," she said, her eyes watering. "It wasn't you. It was…"

Clint coughed and Wanda saw him spit up a little blood. She choked back a sob and put her hand on his chest. She immediately felt the moisture on it. She removed it and turned to look at it. She felt herself become nauseous at the sight of his blood on her hands.

"You did good out there," Clint choked out.

"Because you made me," Wanda told him, starting to cry.

"Take care of…take care…," he struggled.

"Hold on, Clint. Steve's coming back," she pleaded with him.

"Tell Laura…"

"Shhh, you can tell her yourself," she quieted him, stroking his cheek.

Clint shook his head. "Tell Laura…"

Wanda watched as Clint took in one last deep breath and then closed his eyes.

"No. No. Clint, don't. Come back," she cried, tears running down her cheeks. "No. No. Please Clint. Don't die. Not like this. Please papa, don't go," she wailed. Despite her pleas, Clint was gone. She leaned into him, burying her face into his chest, not caring about the feel or smell of his blood. "Please. Wake up. Wake up Clint. Wake up. Wake up…"

* * *

Wanda screamed as she sat up in her hospital bed.

"Whoa, calm down Wanda," she heard from behind her. She frantically looked around, and stopped her movement when she saw Clint coming up from behind her to stand next to the bed. "You're okay."

"Clint," she gasped, leaning over and throwing her arms around him. He hugged her back, becoming concerned when he felt her start to shake.

"You alright there, Kid?"

Clint heard her muffle a yes and then felt her shaking again and realized that she was crying. He just let her cry into his shoulder, letting her get out whatever she needed to. Eventually he heard her saying something through her sobbing, and began trying to make it out.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he finally made out as her arms tightened around him. "I'm so, so sorry for what I said."

"It's alright, Wanda," he comforted her, one of his hands coming up and resting on the back of her head, his fingertips lightly rubbing back and forth to calm her like he did for Lila when she was scared.

After a minute, Wanda pulled back, her face looking shell-shocked. Her eye make-up had run because of her tears. He reached to the back counter and grabbed her a tissue. She wiped her eyes and cheeks and then let herself fall back to the bed. She grunted in pain as she hit the mattress. Finally, after calming down enough she was finally able to take stock of the fact that she was injured.

"How you feeling?" Clint asked her. She nodded her head once, very slowly. "It hurts?" he asked as he watched her wince in pain when she tried to move.

"It's hard to breathe," she answered.

"The doctor told me it looks like you bruised your ribs," he said. "Guess he was right." Clint then looked over the bed railing and then reached over and pushed one of the buttons. The part of the bed under her upper body began to rise, putting her into a sitting position. "This should help," he said.

Immediately Wanda could feel her breathing become easier, though it was still difficult.

"Where's Celeste?" she asked.

"Next room," he answered her. She watched him get up and walk out of the room she was in. A second later, Celeste's mother walked in with him.

"Thank God. Wanda, are you okay, Honey?" Norma asked as she went over and stood next to Wanda's bed. Wanda nodded as Norma started to stroke some hair out of her face.

"How's Celeste?" Wanda asked softly.

"Good. Nothing broken. But they're just waiting on her CT scan and MRI to come back to see if she has a concussion. You want to see her – she's awake."

Wanda nodded and Clint and Norma helped her out of her bed. They slowly helped her walk until she was in the area that held Celeste's bed.

"Hey Smooches," Celeste said weakly.

"Smooches?" Clint asked, casting a curious look at Wanda.

"Because that's all her and her squeeze toy seem to do," Celeste answered him. Clint looked at Wanda, his facial expression showing he was annoyed with that answer.

"How are you?" Wanda asked her friend, anxious to change the subject.

"I'm good. All my bones intact, just a nagging headache."

Wanda flinched at her answer. "I'm sorry," she said.

"For what?" Norma asked. "It's not like you caused her tire to blow."

"Tire?" Clint questioned.

"The officers that called me said she must've run over a nail or something because one of the front tires blew. That's what caused her to lose control," Norma explained.

Wanda and Clint shared a look.

"Frankly, they seemed more surprised that they weren't more injured."

"Small miracles," Clint chuckled.

"How'd you make out?" Celeste asked Wanda.

"Bruised ribs."

"Well, we better get her back to her bed in case the nurse comes looking for her," Clint said in an effort to get Wanda out of there.

"Later Smooches," Celeste said.

"Bye Smurf," Wanda replied back.

"Was it really the tire? Or was it me?" Wanda asked once she was back in her hospital bed.

"You?" Clint asked as he sat back down.

Wanda told him what had happened in the car, how she and Celeste had been talking, and how Wanda's not wanting to talk about it lead to her having an outburst that she thought mimicked the one she had in Sokovia when Pietro died. She said that it was after she got angry that Celeste lost control of the car.

"You don't remember feeling the tire blow?"

"I remember hearing like something exploded," Wanda recalled.

"Then maybe it was the tire," Clint told her.

"Or I just caused the tire to do that." Clint leaned toward Wanda and took her hand. He felt her squeeze it tight and he gave hers a small squeeze of his own.

"Wanda, you don't want to do that to yourself – assuming that the bad stuff that happened in a situation like this is all connected to you. You'll drive yourself crazy. Trust me, I know. You want to concentrate on something? Concentrate on the fact that you and friend are okay. Because maybe you're the reason for that too." Wanda looked up at him, her eyes sad and looking like they were going to start watering any second. "You heard Celeste's mom. The cops expected you two to be way more injured. The doctor I talked to said the same thing. We both know your powers let you put up shields."

"You think _I_ kept us from getting more hurt?" Wanda asked, her voice soft and small, but not from her injuries this time.

"It's better than thinking that you hurt her," Clint said. Wanda let out a small chuckle, and then a quick groan of pain front the exertion of that act. "What?"

"I thought Laura was supposed to be the one to get all introspective with me. You're the one who just gives me a swift kick in the ass when I need it."

"You needed both, and she stayed home with the kids."

* * *

It was almost seven in the morning when Clint and Wanda walked into the house. They were moving slowly, not out of any desire to keep the noise to a minimum even if it was Saturday. Clint was making sure that Wanda didn't overexert herself and making sure that her breathing stayed as normal as possible in her condition. Wanda eyed the stairs and nearly groaned in frustration. She knew they were going to feel like hell to walk up with her ribs slowing her down. Before she could move toward them, they heard Laura coming out of the kitchen. She had a cup of coffee in her hand and she looked like she hadn't slept since Clint left earlier in the night. Clint for the most part looked like he always did, all those years of training giving him the ability to force his body to look totally normal despite the sleep.

But Wanda…she looked ragged. Her skin looked paler, though just slightly in Laura's opinion. But what caused Laura to almost cry was the way Wanda looked like she was hurting to just stand up and breathe. She rushed toward her husband and her eldest, handing Clint her cup and wrapping her arms around Wanda. She pulled back when she heard the teenager groan in pain, quickly remembering Wanda's injury.

"I'm sorry, I forgot," Laura said, "other than the ribs, are you okay?" Wanda nodded. She looked over at Clint. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, the doctor said it was just the bruised ribs. No scratches, broken bones, not even a head injury."

"Thank God," Laura said in relief. She took Wanda's face in her hands, cradling it while she looked her in the eyes. "Don't you ever scare me like that again, do you understand me? Here I am thinking you're up in room – safe – and instead, you're sneaking out, getting into car crashes, and scaring the holy hell out of me."

"I'm sorry," Wanda told her, realizing just what she'd done and feeling horrible for it.

Laura lifted the bottom of Wanda's blouse just enough to reveal her stomach. She became horrified when she saw the external bruising starting to become visible on Wanda's skin. The outer portions of her stomach were already starting to turn a purple-ish black, and the skin leading towards her back was following suit. It was obvious that she was going to be heavily bruised and in pain for a while.

"Oh Sweetheart," Laura sympathized. "You know what, we'll discuss your punishment for sneaking out later; right now I just want you to go to bed and rest. Babe, did they give her anything for the pain?"

"They prescribed some pain killers for the next few days, but after that, Tylenol or aspirin until the pain goes away. I'll go fill it when the pharmacy opens."

"They also gave me some breathing exercises to help the shortness of breath, and the doctor wants me sleeping in a sitting position if possible for a while," Wanda added.

"I'll meet you up there after you change to help you fix your pillows or something to make you comfortable."

Wanda nodded, said a quick thank you and then, gingerly, made her way up to her room. After she was out of sight, Laura turned her back to the upstairs and started crying, letting the emotions of the previous hours finally hit her. Clint wrapped her in his arms and just let her get it out. So that's where Wanda picked that up, Clint thought. "What if it had been worse?" Laura asked through her sobs.

"It wasn't, so don't start letting your imagination go there. She's home, she's safe, she's more or less in one piece. And if it helps, she said I should tell you that she apologized about yesterday."

Laura pulled away from Clint, her eyes now puffy from the tears. "She did?"

Clint nodded, his trademark smirk on his face. "You didn't need to tell her to do it, she would've gotten around to it…eventually…I think," he joked.

"She is a good kid isn't she?" Laura asked, looking for reassurance.

"Yeah, she is."


	13. Chapter 13

Author's Note: So I really wanted to have this done by Christmas, or at the very latest – New Year. Unfortunately, I got hit with writer's block, and the stomach flu. But I was determined to finish this chapter now since it does take place around the holidays and I think a nice glimpse into a Barton Family Christmas would be nice.

Please enjoy…

* * *

Clint and Laura were sitting in the Waterloo airport. The place was buzzing with people, some arriving, and some waiting in line to make their flights. Clint was sitting back, a cup of coffee in his hand, watching everyone as they moved. Old habits die hard, and he found himself assessing almost everyone as if he was still in the field. Laura was sitting next to him, Baby Nate next to her in his carrier. She was gently rocking the carrier since Nate was asleep.

Laura watched as Clint pulled his phone from his jacket pocket and looked at the screen.

"She landed?" she asked him.

Clint nodded. The two of them got up, Clint taking the carrier, and began moving toward the terminal that the Natasha would be coming through. As they waited, they saw people entering from a separate terminal that was close by. Eventually, they spotted what they were looking for, a long white private jet taxing into a private hanger.

"This was more conspicuous than a quinjet?" Laura asked as she noticed some of the people in the airport looking. Not that the occasional personal plane was unusual, but those planes were mostly for personal use; maybe a single engine flier, or an ultralight, or even a small helicopter. But a hundred- foot gulfstream – that was going to attract some attention. It certainly didn't help the low profile when the other people saw a beautiful redhead with movie star looks getting off of it.

"She was actually looking into a normal flight. But she said Tony told her that if she wasn't going to use the quinjet, then he wasn't going to let her fly commercial," Clint explained.

Laura nodded in the affirmative. They watched as the private jet's flight attendant handed Natasha her luggage and one of the airport's runway attendants pointed her toward the terminal.

"It's so good to see you," Laura greeted as she and Natasha hugged each other.

"You too," Natasha said as she returned the hug.

"Hey, Nat," Clint said as he and Natasha shared a smaller hug.

As they were releasing each other they heard a smaller voice let out an impatient whine. Clint and Laura looked at each other, bemused smiles on their faces.

"He would wake up for her," Laura quipped.

"Well hello there," Natasha gushed as she leaned over to see the baby. Nate coed and giggled his little baby laugh at the sight of the family friend. "You know what, this isn't going to work. Clint, here, you take this," she said handing him her suitcase. She then reached over and took the baby from him. "And I'll take him. Hi, how's Auntie Nat's special little guy?"

Laura smiled at the way Natasha gushed over the six month old infant as they walked from the terminal to the SUV. After what had happened when the whole team was at their home, and Bruce leaving, Natasha had shortly thereafter confided in Laura about what she had told Bruce during their stay. Laura felt horrified that something like that was done to her friend. And as she watched Natasha playing with Nate in the backseat, she felt sad that her friend wouldn't get to play with a child of her own.

"How are the kids?" Natasha asked as playfully shook a small stuffed bear in front of Nate, smiling brightly at the sound of his laughing.

"Good," Laura answered her. "Lila and Cooper keep trying to sneak a peek at their presents, and Clint says to let them."

Natasha looked at Clint's reflection in the rearview mirror. "You put nothing but empty wrapped boxes under the tree didn't you?"

Clint smirked. Natasha smiled and Laura just chuckled.

"And Wanda? She behaving?" Natasha asked almost rhetorically. Laura nodded.

"No more fights. No more sneaking out," Laura told her.

"Not wanting to repeat the crash from last time probably has her a little cautious," Clint added.

"What about the arguing?"

"Nothing as bad as that day," Clint answered.

"Mostly typical teenage stuff," Laura said. "Wanting to stay out later. Or spending the weekend with Luke and some of their friends in Chicago for a concert."

That news immediately got Natasha's attention. "Concert? In Chicago?" Laura nodded. "Which is like five hours away?"

"Yup," Clint said annoyed.

"That means hotel room, doesn't it?" Natasha asked. She heard Clint breathe in deeply.

"Yes, but we trust Wanda, don't we, babe?" Laura said pointedly, indicating to Natasha that there was a whole discussion there that she hadn't been told about yet.

"Yeah," Clint said flatly. " _Wanda_ I trust."

"You know, every time I see Clint have to deal with the drama of having a teenage girl, it brings such a smile to my face," Natasha said before she and Laura broke out laughing.

* * *

Wanda dropped herself onto the couch next to Cooper as he was playing a video game. His eyes were locked on the screen like he was excluding everything that didn't pertain to his objective. As he shook from Wanda's impact, he never tore his attention away. "Have you beaten this round…level…whatever it is you're doing?" she asked him.

"Almost," he answered, suddenly tapping away on the controller and shifting his weight as if it might help. "You found Lila yet? Or did you give up?" he asked referencing the game of hide and seek the two girls were playing.

"No, I know exactly where she is. I'm just letting her think she's stumped me for once." Cooper paused his game and looked at her in disbelief. "She's pretending she's Harry Potter." Cooper's expression changed to confusion. Wanda rolled her eyes. "She's hiding in the closet under the stairs," Wanda pointed toward the stairs.

Cooper nodded and was about to crack a joke when they heard the SUV pull up. Wanda stood on her knees on the couch and looked outside.

"They're back," she told Cooper. Cooper threw the controller aside and got up to join Wanda. The two of them had gotten to the door just as Clint, Laura, and Natasha were opening it.

"Coop," Natasha practically shouted as she leaned down to hug the Barton's oldest boy.

"Hey Aunt Nat," he said returning the hug.

"Where's…?" Laura started to ask when Wanda cut her off gently.

"She's under the stairs," Wanda answered. She then turned toward the stairs. "Lila, Natasha's here." Suddenly, the closet door under the stairs flew open and Lila came running out.

"Auntie Nat," the young girl screamed as ran straight into the redhead, nearly knocking her over.

"Hey there, Sweet Pea," Natasha said, hugging the girl tight and kissing her on the head.

"Hide and seek?" Laura asked with a grin. Wanda nodded.

"Okay guys, let's let Auntie Nat actually get into the house," Clint said. The two younger kids let Natasha go and then tried to pull her toward the living room where the Christmas tree was at. "Guys, slow down," Clint stepped in. "She'll be there in a second."

Cooper and Lila relented and ran in, waiting for her.

"I'll catch up," Natasha said to Clint and Laura. Both parents looked at each other and just smiled with raised eyebrows. "Hey Wanda," Natasha greeted once they were alone.

"Nat," Wanda said.

"How are you?"

"Good."

"Ribs doing better?"

Wanda nodded, and then lifted her blouse just slightly. "Bruising's gone too."

"Good to hear that. Everything going better around here?" Wanda nodded again. "No arguing with Clint and Laura?"

Wanda smiled knowingly. She kind of expected that question, especially since she didn't get to New York at all during her recovery. And Natasha wasn't the type to deal with something like this over the phone, Wanda knew.

"No, no more arguing."

"Ty uveren?" Natasha asked in Russian if Wanda was sure.

"Ya diznavsya miy urok," Wanda said back in Sokovian, telling Natasha that she had learned her lesson.

"Spasibo," Natasha thanked the teenager.

"Laskavo prosymo," Wanda responded saying you're welcome.

* * *

Wanda had never seen so many people moving like a swarm in one place before – at least not while the place wasn't under attack. There was almost no room for people to move, yet somehow, the multitude was getting around, clumsily, but they were.

"First time shopping on Christmas Eve?" Natasha asked as she, Laura, and Wanda began making their way through the mall. They didn't really need anything important, but Natasha and Laura needed a few last minute trinkets and stocking stuffers.

"Yeah," Wanda said in awe. "I've never seen anything like this."

"Ever?" Laura asked.

"Well," Wanda said, stretching out the word. "On Halloween. Luke made me go with him and his cousin to get her a costume. The place was packed, but that was just one store."

"Welcome to capitalism in its most extreme form," Laura told her.

"Oh please – Black Friday," Natasha argued. "Even I won't go out in that. I'm too afraid of having to _actually_ fight my way through people."

"Forgot about that," Laura said as the three women neared one of the department stores. "Okay, some ground rules before we go in there," she said, stopping Natasha and Wanda. "First, do not split up unless it is absolutely necessary. You fall behind, you get left behind, that means all three of us. Second, I don't care if someone tries to fight you for something, no violence – Nat." Natasha grinned. "Absolutely, under no circumstances do you use your powers – Wanda."

"Yes ma'am."

"Brace yourselves, girls," Natasha said just before the three of them entered the fray of last minute shoppers.

* * *

One thing Wanda loved about the Barton home was that she was treated like family; more specifically, one of the kids. That meant that Clint and Laura – especially Clint – didn't impose a lot of the same rules that she had when she was in New York with the rest of the Avengers. There was no set schedule. No drills. No tactical and combat practice unless she asked Clint for it. But, and this was her favorite part, no set wake-up time during school breaks.

So it annoyed her to no end when she felt her bed practically shaking and bouncing while she tried to sleep in.

"Wanda, wake up," she heard Lila's excited voice say. "Wake up. Wake up. Wake up," she chanted as she continued to, as Wanda had finally figured out, jump repeatedly on the bed.

"Stop it," Wanda growled as she turned onto her back and looked at the small girl. Lila stopped jumping, letting herself fall onto Wanda's bed once she saw that the older girl was awake.

"But its Christmas," she shouted happily. "Come on, we need to open our presents," she then said as she grabbed Wanda's hand and tried to pull her up. Wanda shook Lila's hand off and rolled back onto her side.

"Five more hours – minimum," Wanda said as she closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep.

Lila looked at the girl she considered her older sister and got a look of determination. She was not going to be denied.

Suddenly Wanda felt the bed jumping and shaking and bouncing all over again, this time a little faster. Rather than move, she simply held up her hand the earthquake that was Lila Barton stopped.

"Put me down," Lila demanded, no real fear in her voice.

"Stop jumping," Wanda demanded herself while holding Lila suspended in the air.

"Mommy, Wanda's using her powers," Lila shouted. Suddenly the almost ten year old girl felt herself come crashing down onto the bed.

"Narc," Wanda complained as she sat up and glared at Lila.

"Come on," Lila ordered as she grabbed Wanda's hand once again and, once again, started to pull her. This time Wanda let herself get dragged from her nice comfy bed by the excited little girl.

Once downstairs, Wanda was greeted by the sight of the entire family and Natasha sitting in the living room. Cooper was sitting on the floor next to the presents, obviously getting impatient at having to wait for his sisters. "Finally," he blurted out.

"Coop," Laura said.

"Sorry. Merry Christmas, Wanda," he said, looking at his mother who nodded her approval at the more appropriate greeting.

"Merry Christmas," she said back, getting similar greetings from Natasha and Clint and Laura.

"Merry Christmas," Lila said as she gave Wanda a quick hug around her waist.

Clint and Laura chuckled from their position on the couch. Clint was perched on the couch arm, a cup of coffee in his hand. Laura was sitting on one end of the couch, Nate in her arms while Natasha was sitting on the edge of the arm chair, waiting far more patiently than Cooper. Lila let go and raced so fast toward the tree and pile of presents it would've impressed Pietro she thought.

"Can we open them now?" she asked her parents once she was kneeled next to them.

"Go," Clint said and smiled as he watched his younger kids attack the pile of wrapped gifts.

Copper grabbed one of the boxes, looked at the label and set it down next to himself. He then grabbed another and looked at the label. He shook the small box lightly to make sure it didn't sound breakable and nodded. "Here Wanda," he said tossing the box toward her.

Wanda looked down at the small green paper covered box. It was no bigger than a phone, though she doubted that it actually was one since hers was still working. "You need to open it," Natasha's voice interrupted her.

Wanda nodded, but turned it over to read the label. "From you?" she asked Natasha. The redhead nodded slightly. Wanda tore open the paper and saw that it was a small felt covered box. Upon opening it she saw that held a silver locket. "It's beautiful, thank you."

"Open it," Natasha told her.

Wanda opened the locket and the adults watched as she teared up almost immediately. "Thank you," Wanda half-sobbed and went and gave Natasha a hug.

"You're welcome," Natasha said as Wanda showed Clint and Laura the locket. Upon inspection, they saw that the locket had a picture of Wanda on one side, and a picture of Pietro on the other.

"How'd you get a picture of Pietro?" Clint asked.

"The files we got when we raided Strucker's place," Natasha informed him. Clint nodded.

After composing herself Wanda joined the adults in watching the kids open their presents. Cooper was lukewarm about the clothes, but was thrilled to get the new video games. Like was happy with the toys and clothes, but had to be reminded that there was too much snow outside for her to ride her new bike. Tony had sent Clint a new bow while Laura got him a set of golf clubs.

"No more excuses about wanting to start playing," Laura told him. She then opened hers, a few new blouses and dresses from Natasha and Clint letting her know that in addition to the finally completed sunroom, he was going to take her to get her wedding ring reset.

"So can we please eat breakfast now?" Wanda asked as the last of the presents were opened. Clint and Laura shared a look that confused the teenager. "What?"

"It's so nice to know that she listened to us when she set the rules about her using her powers and _doesn't_ read our minds," Laura pointed out a little more exaggerated than was necessary.

"Definitely," Clint said as he got up and left the room.

"Okay, you two are making me nervous," she said to Laura. She then turned toward Natasha. "Do you know what's going on?"

"Not a clue," Natasha answered her.

A small bit of time later Clint walked back in carrying a fairly large present wrapped in silver paper. He set it down next to the coffee table and then took his spot back on the arm of the couch. "Merry Christmas, Wanda," he said, a small smirk on his face and far more animated smile on Laura's.

Wanda grabbed the present and tore off the paper, doing her best to try and hide her excitement over the curiosity of what it could be, especially given its size. She wasn't succeeding and Clint, Laura, and Natasha couldn't help but almost laugh at watching her acting like she was Lila and Cooper's age. When she was threw the wrapping paper, she looked down at the black case with brass snaps on the sides. She flipped open the snaps and her eyes widened.

"A guitar?" she asked in complete shock. "But I didn't ask for…"

"We saw you eyeing it at the music store every time we went to get Lila's clarinet looked at," Clint told her.

"Thank you," she said while getting up and giving them both a hug. "But I don't even know how to play."

"Clint can teach you," Laura informed her.

"You can play, Old Man?"

"A little bit," Clint smirked.

* * *

Clint, Laura, and Natasha were sitting on the back porch. It was a half-hour before midnight, Cooper and Lila were asleep in bed, the excitement from the day taking its toll on them and knocking them out earlier. They had a small fire going inside the fire pit to keep warm and were enjoying a beer each when they heard Wanda approaching from inside the house.

"Oh good, you're still awake," she said. They noticed that she was carrying a couple of presents in her hands.

"Those from Luke?" Clint asked since he knew that was where she was coming back from.

"No, they're from me," she said as she handed a medium-sized box to Clint and a small box to Laura. She reached into her red jacket and pulled out an envelope for Natasha. "I wanted to come back now so I could give them to you before Christmas officially ended."

"Gift card?" Natasha asked knowingly.

Wanda nodded. "You're actually really hard to shop for, so I figured a hundred dollars might let you pick something nice."

"It'll help," she confirmed. "There was this little black dress I saw while we were shopping that I might go back for. Thanks."

"You're welcome. Well?" she looked to Clint and Laura. "You going to open them."

Laura went first and ripped the paper off. "Oh Wanda, this is beautiful," she said as she looked at the diamond bracelet inside. "But you really didn't need to spend this kind of money on me."

"It's okay. On top of the money he gave me for Christmas, Tony gave me some money to spend on gifts for people. And I saw how much you liked that when you tried it on a couple of weeks ago."

"Thank you, Sweetheart," Laura smiled as she waved Wanda over for a hug. When Wanda pulled back, Laura had a surprised look on her face, as did Wanda. The two of them shared a look and Wanda averted her gaze sheepishly.

"So you going to open yours there Clint?" Natasha asked. "I'm dying to see what she got you."

Clint pulled his pocket knife out and sliced away at the tape holding the box together. He pulled off the top section and lifted off the tissue paper. "A jacket?"

"Laura and Nat told me that you ruined your other leather jacket when Ultron attacked you all at Tony's party and you never replaced it," Wanda said. Clint pulled the jacket out of the box. It was simple black leather racer jacket with a stand-up collar. It was little different than his original one since there were no zipper pockets on the front and the collar had no snap to close it off in case of wind.

"Nice," Clint said as he looked the jacket over. "Thanks, Kid." Wanda smiled and hugged him before going inside.

"I'm surprised she went to this kind of effort," Laura said, not belittling Wanda's showing of charity, just surprised by it.

"Are you serious?" Natasha asked almost indignantly. Clint and Laura looked over at her. "Of course she was going to get her parents something. And before either of you say's anything, yes, I can prove you're her parents."

Natasha took a pull of her beer and then took a deep breath.

"Just after I dropped her at your doorstep, remember how we took her shopping for stuff for her room? Well, you two had to leave because Nate was starting to feel sick so you took him to the emergency room. I stayed with Wanda and the kids. While we went through the mall, Cooper and Lila spotted the indoor carnival, and wanted to go. We didn't have time, so I said no. For some reason, they went to Wanda to try and get her to say yes or something. Wanda looks at me, and tells them, 'I don't think your mom and dad would approve'," Natasha informed them.

"They probably wanted her to force a yes out of you," Clint joked.

Natasha nodded.

"Anyway, let's fast forward to the day after I got her for Christmas. I took the kids out to hang out since I hadn't seen them in a while. Wanda tags along. This time in the mall, Cooper spots a set up for a VR simulator. He wants to try it and so does Lila."

"What kind of simulator?" Laura asked, hoping Natasha wasn't talking about the one she saw there on Christmas Eve.

"The zombie one," Natasha told her. Laura got a look on her face like she was about to complain. "I didn't let them do it. Considering his video games, I _might've_ let Cooper, but I didn't think it would be fair to Lila that she couldn't, so I said no. Once again, they went to Wanda. This time though, Wanda looks at the picture on the side of display and says, 'Mom and Dad would kill me if I said yes'. Not _your_ Mom and Dad, just Mom and Dad. As far she's concerned, you two are _Mom_ and _Dad_ ," she said looking directly at Laura and Clint respectively as she uses the titles. "Or…Old Man as she apparently calls you," she joked to Clint.

Clint just smiled and stayed silent. But it was clear to both women that he was a little bit happy to see that Wanda had apparently fully accepted her place in the family. Laura herself was thinking back to a few seconds ago, just before a shared look of surprise between them.

 _"Thank you, Sweetheart," Laura said, waving Wanda in for a hug. Wanda leaned down and hugged Laura, her lips right next to the women's ear._

 _"You're welcome, Mom," Wanda said just before she pulled away._

 _Oh my God, did I just say that, Wanda asked herself as she looked at Laura in shock. It wasn't the first time that she thought that, often saying the word Mom in her own head, but this was the first time she'd said it out loud. As she found herself looking away, she realized that it didn't sound bad, just...unexpected._

 _Did she just call me Mom, Laura thought to herself as she returned the look of surprise to the teenager in front of her. She already considered Wanda her daughter, and often referred to her as such when asked by people who Wanda was. And when people saw her with Nate and asked if he as her only child, she often laughed while saying no and then told them that she had four. She just never considered that Wanda had grown the same kind of attachment_.

"So how does it feel to know that she's pretty much a Barton in everything but name?" Natasha asked them, a proud, almost gloating smile on her face.


	14. Chapter 14

Author's Note: It's been a while since I updated. I apologize for that. When you have like six or seven stories, it's hard to update as often as you like since not all stories write themselves at the same pace. Luckily, this story tends to write quickly, so I'm actually going to jump right into the next chapter to make up for going so long without the update.

Also, to the person who pointed out my grammar mistakes between Wanda and Natasha's conversation in the Christmas chapter, I always assume it's probably not totally correct. After all, I'm using Google translate to write those parts. Please, just cut me some slack. And I know Wanda is Jewish, I will address that in a later chapter. It wasn't an oversight, I have that planned out.

Other than that,

Please enjoy…

* * *

"You and Clint will be staying here with baby Nate," Natasha told Laura as she showed them into a room at the Avengers compound. It was a well-appointed and neatly decorated room, not unlike the kind of room someone might find in a four-star suite in a hotel. Boy, Tony sure didn't go cheap on the living arrangements, Laura thought as she walked into the room and set her suitcase down next to the bed. She noticed the crib set up near the king-sized bed.

"Are all the rooms here like this?" Laura asked as she headed toward the window. The view looked out over the woods surrounding the compound and the lake just beyond them.

"Not all of them," Natasha answered. "Our rooms are just a little bit bigger, but not by much. Also, ours were a little more Spartan. We all added our own touches to them. Lila and Cooper will be next door," she said as she indicated the connecting door. "I had the kids' stuff put in there since Clint's already showing Cooper and Lila around the compound."

Laura nodded.

"Wanda's room is on the floor above this one. I'm sure she'll show it to you once you all are settled."

"Speaking of Wanda, where she'd split off too when we got here?" Laura asked.

Natasha let a sad smile cross her face. "Where she always goes when she first gets back."

* * *

Wanda was sitting in a small clearing amongst a thicket of trees just beyond the main complex. The area was quiet save for the sound of the occasional bird rustling in the trees above her. Even the sound of the lake was too far too reach her here. It was just the trees, the smell of the grass, the small breeze blowing through…

And Pietro's headstone.

She wiped away some stray grass and dirt that had accumulated since her last visit. The stone itself looked simple, just a granite slab with his name, birth and death year, and the inscription:

 _Brother. Friend. Hero._

Originally the team had wanted to put his memorial in the main complex with a large cenotaph of a broken column for symbolism. But she vehemently said no to that. As much as she appreciated the gesture, she didn't want her brother becoming a story or a spectacle. She insisted on a simple burial with a simple stone. The simplicity her brother never got in life.

She wiped some tears that always seemed to happen when she came to visit and looked down at the stone.

"I know it's been a while since I visited, but…but the holidays got busy, and crazy. Plus, school," she said, letting out a sigh. "Before the break, _and_ after," she chuckled lightly. "Remember when I told you that Clint and Laura made me take that SAT test a few months ago?" she asked.

* * *

 _Three months earlier…_

"Why do I even have to take this…test," Wanda complained as she, Clint, and Laura were wandering through the grocery store. Cooper was heavily distracted by his Switch and Lila was busy with Cooper's old DS, so as far as they were concerned, it was a private three-way conversation.

"Because you might want to go to college one day, and you'll need this test," Laura answered her as she grabbed a box of each of the kid's favorite cereals and put them in the cart.

"You do know that I have certain plans for after high school that don't involve college?" Wanda pointed out to her.

Laura looked at Wanda askance. "Wanda, Sweetheart, I get that…," Laura paused, taking a second to look around and noticing the elderly couple in the aisle with them. "I get that you have…plans. But, plans change, and maybe somewhere down the line, you might want to go to college, and I –"

"We," Clint interrupted his wife. Laura smiled at her husband's support.

" _We_ just want to make sure that you have everything in order if you choose that option."

"So why do I need to take the test now?"

"Because the scores are good for five years," Laura answered. "So the option is there for you."

"And I already wrote the check for you to take it. You're getting my money's worth," Clint said with an evil, gloating smirk.

* * *

"So I took the stupid test. But that just opened a whole new can of annoying worms," Wanda lamented to her brother's grave.

* * *

 _One month earlier…_

"Do you know why I called you in here today, Wanda?" asked Edna Bankston, one of the guidance counselors for Waverly-Shell Rock's senior class. Wanda shook her head at the middle-aged woman. Wanda liked Ms. Bankston, the woman seemed to enjoy her job more than some of the teachers, and actually looked like she wanted to be there and wasn't just counting down the days until summer vacation. Like most of the other seniors though, Wanda found the woman's almost endless energy practically draining as she seemed to just never tire and never stop smiling. "I called you in because of all my students, you are the only I can't recall having a conversation about what you plan to do after graduation."

Ugh, here too, Wanda thought as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Wanda, do you realize that by now I've got seniors who have already applied to several colleges with the hope to hear back from them regarding early admission. Your boyfriend? He's narrowing down the field from four different schools that are recruiting him to play for them."

"Actually, it's three now," Wanda corrected. Ms. Bankston raised an eyebrow at her. "Iowa, Ohio State, and Miami. He decided not to go to Michigan."

"And have you thought of narrowing down some choices in schools? Or even decided on schools to apply to?" Ms. Bankston asked, using the segue that Wanda had given her. Wanda again shook her head. "You see, that just seems like a real shame. Especially when you consider how smart you are," Ms. Bankston said as she opened a file she had laying in front of her. "Your grades are exceptional, your GPA is stellar; I've spoken with your teachers, and almost all of them are surprised that you haven't come asking for letters of recommendation. And don't even get me started on your SAT scores."

"I did okay," Wanda smiled, though suppressing the urge to look like she was gloating.

"Okay? Wanda, do you how hard it is to get a 1510 on that? I'm telling you Wanda, your grades, GPA, test scores, and a kick ass essay – you could have your pick of schools."

Wanda sensed that this conversation was not going to end any time soon unless she gave the woman in front of her…something. She let out a deep breath and sat up in her chair. "If I apply to a few schools, will…would you…," she trailed off, trying to find a gentle way to phrase the final part of the question.

"Will I get off your back?" Ms. Bankston finished for her. Wanda nodded reluctantly. Ms. Bankston leaned into her desk, her arms holding her up and looked at Wanda like she had finally broken through. "Four schools," she finally began bargaining. "Two in state, two out, and you bring me any acceptance letters. The final decision whether you attend or not is yours obviously, but I just want to know that when I watch you walk across that stage, that you have an option open if you change your mind. Deal?"

Wanda nodded. "Works for me."

* * *

"Laura was practically jumping for joy when she found out I at least applied. She keeps checking the mail box for anything from the schools I applied to," Wanda revealed to him. "Clint…I think he knows that I just applied to make them happy. Really, he's probably being the most supportive about me just going back to New York and rejoining the team full time when I graduate. It's comforting. Other than that, school isn't too demanding," she said with a nod.

Suddenly she smiled almost dreamily. "Luke asked me to prom. I didn't think he needed to, after all, I figured it was expected since I was his girlfriend, but he said he wanted to do the whole asking me thing. Actually, his exact words were that he wanted to ask the most beautiful girl in school properly," she blushed. "Obviously I said yes," she giggled. "But leave it to my luck to have even that complicated just a little bit."

* * *

 _Two weeks earlier..._

Wanda and Celeste were hanging out at Celeste's house. More specifically, Wanda was spending the weekend. It was a freezing outside, the snow and the wind-chill making the Saturday too cold to do anything involving leaving the house. Currently, they were enjoying a non-traditional January horror movie marathon. They were curled up on the couch in the living room, each under blankets on opposite sides, pizza and drinks scattered in front of them. They were watching the credits roll on the Carrie remake when Celeste tapped Wanda's leg with her foot.

"What?" Wanda asked as she finished a slice of pizza.

"Considering that the announcement is going to come out on Monday, I feel I should prepare you for something."

"What did you do now?" Wanda asked smiling. "Is there going to be an announcement reminding all us girls that we are not allowed to follow a cute boy into the locker room?" she added starting to laugh.

Celeste threw a throw pillow at Wanda, hitting her in the head. Wanda just continued to laugh. "No, nothing like that. It actually involves you," Celeste said in playful voice. Wanda gave her friend a look that plain and simply said hurry up and tell me. "I might have…I don't know…kind of…," she began, dragging out the news. "Nominated you for prom queen," she finished, speaking so quickly that Wanda almost didn't hear her. And part of her was wondering if she even heard correctly.

"You…you what?" Wanda asked, feeling her blood run cold with disbelief.

"I nominated you for prom queen," Celeste smiled proudly.

"Why?" Wanda almost shouted.

"I thought it'd be fun."

" _Fun_? You do know who's also nominated for prom queen, right?" Wanda asked.

Celeste nodded. "Summer. Your arch nemesis. Nemeses? No, it's nemesis," she said, trying to figure out the correct usage of the word. Wanda buried her face in the pillow Celeste hit her with. Celeste heard her friend groan in frustration. "What's the big deal? You put up a few posters, shake your tail, kiss some cute boys on the cheek…win a crown."

Wanda lifted her head from the pillow. "I'm pretty sure the saying is shake hands and kiss babies."

"Shaking hands does nothing in high school. But with all that," she explained, waving her hand in air over Wanda's prone figure, "a little wiggle to your walk is gonna go a long way. And…there are no babies. Unless you count those two pregnant chicks, but still, there's no actual babies. Besides, you're a shoe in for the win."

"Do you actually listen to yourself? Do you even think before doing things like this?"

"Not usually," Celeste grinned. "I'm more forgiveness over permission."

"And I am not a shoe in. Everything I've ever heard or watched about prom queen says it's a popularity contest."

"And people like you. Especially after you kicked Summer's implant inject butt last semester and forced her to get a new nose," Celeste prattled on giddily.

"You're not going to let me out of this are you?" Wanda asked, annoyed to no end. Celeste was shaking her head, a gleeful, creepy looking, smile on her face.

This is gonna bite me in the ass, Wanda thought.

* * *

"That's actually why Clint, Laura, and the family are here with me this time," Wanda pointed out. "Clint's going to show Cooper, Lila, and Nate the city while Laura and Nat help me find a prom dress this weekend. Should be loads of fun," she deadpanned. She ran her hand over the headstone one more time and sniffled as she fought back some tears. "I'll come back before I leave."


	15. Chapter 15

Author's Note: I rewatched Civil War while writing this chapter because something was nagging at me. Just before the scene where Clint rescues Wanda, Wanda said she was going to the store to get some paprika. I also remember Tony saying that the Avengers Facility sat on over 100 acres. So it's not small, which means the closest store is NOT walking distance. So unless she was going to use her powers to fly there, she had to drive, which means someone had to teach her, and she probably has a license. I don't think it's a far leap, and I'm going to touch on that in this chapter.

The next chapter (when I can get to it), is going to be a little fun, because now I get to figure out what several people have commented on in the reviews. Just what am I going to do to Luke, and who is he going to meet on prom night? Any suggestions? I'm laughing evilly on the inside right now.

Please enjoy…

* * *

"Wanda, come on, it does not take this long to try on a dress," Natasha shouted into the dressing room area while she and Laura waited outside of it.

"I'm coming," Wanda shouted back.

"I hope this one at least feels okay to her," Laura said as she realized that this was the sixth dress she'd tried on in just this store. She'd forgotten how many Wanda went through in the last two stores.

"What do you think?" Wanda asked as she finally walked out from the dressing room. She had on a cream colored sleeveless, floor length dress with a beaded bodice and two slits in the front that reached almost up to her hips.

"Not bad," Natasha replied as she inspected the dress. Laura nodded her approval. "The real question is do you like it, though."

"Yeah, Sweetheart, you kind of got a look on your face," Laura added.

Wanda looked down at the dress and then turned to face the mirror next to the doorway leading to the dressing rooms. She smoothed out the material near her waist, and then moved the areas around the slits. "It's nice."

"But…," both women said slowly, drawing out the word.

"I could deal with one of these slits, even as high as they are. But the two of them," she trailed as she again tried to close one of the slits. "I'd be too afraid of showing something if I wasn't careful with how I was moving."

"That's understandable," Laura said as she moved Wanda's hands to let the dress fall as it needed to in order to see its full effect. "I don't think it's _too_ bad, but if you don't feel comfortable –"

"You do have another dress still in there you can try," Natasha finished for Laura. Laura shared a quick exhausted look with her friend.

"Yeah, I think I'll try that one," Wanda decided going back into the dressing room area.

"If she doesn't like that dress how many more stores do you think we'll end up hitting after this?" Laura asked.

Natasha shrugged. "It's Fifth Avenue," she pointed out with a sigh. "There are still a lot of places to hit. And we haven't even considered Bergdorfs yet."

"We are _not_ going to Bergdorfs," Laura heavily decided. "Not when the dresses there _start_ at a couple thousand."

"Tony's paying," Natasha reminded her friend.

"I know, but still," she trailed off. Then she shook her head like she was throwing away her current argument. "Let's just hope this next one is lucky number seven."

Before Natasha could say anything, Wanda came walking out in another dress. "Well?" she asked nervously.

Natasha let her eyes go up and down the teenage girl. Her reaction was…mixed.

"Oh, no," Laura said in a less than mixed reaction. "No, no, no, no, no," she said even more emphatically. "Clint would kill you. And then me and Nat for letting you get it," she finished as she appraised the dress.

It was a floor length maroon mermaid style strapless dress that was figure hugging with a sweetheart neckline. It was the neckline that had Laura so worked up as the tight fit of the dress seemed to create far more cleavage than Laura was sure was appropriate. This dress shows even more than Wanda's Avengers suit, Laura thought.

"You think it's too much?" Wanda asked with a knowing smirk as she waved her hand over her chest.

"First off, can you breathe?" Laura asked as she spun Wanda and noticed that the dress was a little tighter than anything she'd seen her in. "Because it looks like you had to squeeze yourself into this?"

"It's a little tight, but I can move okay. And I'm breathing just fine."

"I can tell," Natasha almost laughed as she saw the way Wanda seemed to heave a little with every breath. Laura must be losing her mind, Natasha thought wickedly.

"And that's another thing about this dress – and why it's a definite no," Laura said pointedly.

"Why? I think it's nice," Wanda said as she said as turned toward the mirror. She turned and preened, looking to see how the back of the dress fit. She then turned back forward and readjusted the front the few centimeters it had fallen. She held back a laugh of her own when she saw Laura roll her eyes in frustration.

"Sweetheart, you're nearly popping out of this thing just standing still," Laura told her as she turned Wanda gently by the shoulder to face her. "I don't even want to think what'll happen when you're dancing."

"I'm thinking it'll clench her that prom queen vote," Natasha joked. Wanda smiled in agreement and pointed in affirmation towards her.

"You are not helping," Laura said.

"Laura, she's almost eighteen. If she wants to show off a little bit, let her."

"This isn't showing off a little, this is practically giving a free show," Laura said to Natasha, doing her best not to lose her patience. She then turned toward Wanda. "And if you think I'm having a problem, just try and get this dress – and that much cleavage – past Clint."

"Okay, yes, Clint might have a problem, but I'm sure Luke's going to _love_ seeing me in this," Wanda gloated.

Natasha and Wanda watched as Laura took in a deep breath, and begin to look like she was trying not to scream. The two of them shared a look, then small, mischievous grins, and finally a quick nod to each other. Before Laura could say anything else she watched in confusion as Natasha and Wanda began laughing almost hysterically.

"Am I missing something?" Laura asked, her patience nearing its end.

"I told you she'd freak," Wanda said though her laughs. "You owe me," she added.

Natasha nodded, unable to speak immediately. "Best hundred dollars I've lost," she finally managed to say.

"What is going on?" Laura shouted as she still had no clue what was so funny.

Wanda did her best to catch her breath long enough to compose herself, and not validate Laura's concerns and fall right of the dress. "When you went to restroom earlier, we spotted this dress. Natasha said I should at least try it on, but I remembered the problem you had with my Avenger suit, and said you wouldn't hold back this time. Nat said you'd try and be nice and just try to talk me out of it politely."

"So we bet a hundred to see who'd be right. I just didn't think watching you hold back for so long would be so funny," Natasha added as both she and Wanda started laughing again.

Laura felt herself calming down, and started taking deep breaths to hasten it. The frustration began to leave, and suddenly she felt a tiny sense of embarrassment. "I hate both of you right now," she told them snidely. Natasha and Wanda both started laughing again. Laura shook her head and told herself it was not okay to kill one of her best friends or her daughter.

"Okay, we've had enough fun with her," Natasha finished laughing. "Go ahead and change Wanda – now. I just had an idea for the perfect dress, but we need to leave now so we can beat traffic."

* * *

"I still can't believe that Tony just _gave_ you this car," Laura commented as Wanda parked her car in the lot behind the vintage dress shop that Natasha had directed them too. Following Natasha's advice they'd been able to just barely beat the traffic on the 59th Street Bridge that led them into Queens making sure that the trip didn't stretch out due to a traffic jam.

"I think it was his way of saying congratulations on passing my driver's test here in New York," Wanda said as she undid her seat belt.

"I know, but it just seems a little…high end for a teenage girl's first car," Laura said as she did the same and got out from the passenger's seat.

Natasha just looked the car over as she got out from the back seat and made a more or less nod with her head. "You're not totally wrong, but, as far as first cars go, an Audi isn't bad."

Laura nodded in agreement, realizing that she was sounding a little bit like a downer over the situation. It was Tony's money after all, she thought.

"And it wasn't like he bought it specifically for me," Wanda said as she set the alarm and the three of them started making their way from the back of the lot toward the store. "He just told me to pick something out of his collection and transferred the title. If it helps any, I picked this over the R8 that he insisted I take," Wanda smiled.

"And I thank you for you not taking that. I'd have had a heart attack at the thought of you driving something that fast," Laura said as she realized that the A4 was much more of a safer thought to her motherly instincts.

They were nearing the back entrance of the store when out of nowhere, a teenage boy a few years younger than Wanda came running around the corner of the building and nearly barreled into Wanda. Much to the surprise of all three of them, the teen exhibited some pretty quick reflexes and instead of slamming into her, was actually able to grab her by the hips and start spinning.

"Whoa, God," the teen gasped as he stopped the spin. "Are you okay? Oh God, I should let go," he said as he frantically let go of Wanda. "Sorry," he uttered quickly. There was a noise coming from street that sounded like it was getting closer. The brown haired teen looked around Wanda and after quickly saying, "Gotta go," began running off. They watched as he jumped onto the hood of a car and leapt over the wooden fence that separated the shop's parking lot from the next store's like it wasn't even an obstacle.

"That wasn't weird at all," Laura said. Wanda nodded. Suddenly another teenager, this one looking a couple years older than the one who just left, came around the corner of the building as well.

"Hey," he said staring at the three females. "Hi," he said with a cocky smile, and also and an even cheesier tone, when he looked at Natasha, his overbite showing. "Did you guys see a friend of mine come through here? Brown hair. Scrawny."

"Haven't seen anyone like that," Natasha said with a shake of her head.

"You sure? Because I'm pretty sure I saw him run this way, darlin'," the teen said with another look up and down at Natasha.

Laura and Wanda watched Natasha approach the teen. He smiled when she was about a foot away. "First off, my name isn't 'Darling'. And second," she paused as she flicked him on the forehead. "My eyes are up here," she reminded him as he shook his head and looked her in the face finally. She took out her phone and, much to his confusion, snapped a picture of him. She punched some commands into her phone and then looked back up at the teen. "What's your name?"

"Steve," the teen replied, still confused. Less than a second later, Natasha's phone pinged and she looks at it.

"Steve…Toriello," Natasha begins.

"How did you know my last –"

"Lives here in Queens obviously. Junior at Midtown School of Science and Technology. And apparently a bully if all the fights on this transcript are correct. I don't like bullies, Steve."

"I'm not a –"

"Yeah, you are. The same system I used to find out about you right now, is going to be keeping tabs on you. If it alerts me about anything that looks like a fight – at school, with the police, anything – you're gonna see me again. And trust me, whatever dirty acts you've probably thought about me doing to you while I've been standing here, will be the last things I will actually be doing to you. Understand me… _Darlin'_?" Steve gulped and nodded. "Go, and behave yourself."

Steve gulped again and ran off in the direction came from. Natasha then started making her way back toward Laura and Wanda. "What?" she asked when she saw the way they were looking at her.

"You know, if you wanted to scare the kid, you could've just pulled a knife, or gun, or something on him," Laura joked.

"Like I said, I don't like bullies," she reiterated as she walked into the dress shop.

* * *

"This doesn't exactly look like a place where I'm going to find a prom dress," Wanda said as she looked around at the vintage clothes. Laura nodded, but bit her tongue rather than voice her doubts.

"Because it wouldn't normally," Natasha agreed with her. "But last week I was getting some time away from headquarters, and saw this amazing vintage dress in the window. I wouldn't normally wear it, but I think it would look stunning on you. I just hope they still have it. Be right back, feel free to look around."

Wanda and Laura watched the redhead walk off toward the front of the store. The two of them began to browse the clothes in the small shop, occasionally grabbing something that caught their eyes. "Thank you again for helping me look for a dress," Wanda said as Laura was looking at an old green army jacket that looked a size too big for her frame.

"It's what mothers do, Sweetheart," Laura replied with a small chuckle, placing the jacket back on the rack. "Besides, I really wanted to see the new facility, what with you living here too and all."

"And?" Wanda asked. "What do you think?"

"It's bigger than I thought it would be. Nicer too. The living area doesn't feel at all like..," Laura trailed off, looking for the right word.

"Like some kind of base?" Wanda finished. Laura nodded. "I remember when they first brought me over with them, I felt like I was just being held until they figured out what to do with me."

"Do with you?" Laura asked.

* * *

 _Just after the Battle of Sokovia…_

Wanda is alone in one of the briefing rooms. Clint brought her here after everything had settled after the battle. She overheard that some of the S.H.I.E.L.D personnel felt she should be placed in the containment cells, but that Clint had somehow gotten that overruled. She originally wanted to stay with her brother's body, but she was told that it was being held in a makeshift morgue so as to preserve it while arrangements could be made. So as she sat alone, picking away at her nail polish in an attempt to fight off the nerves and boredom, she tried not to think about what might happen. The problem was that the team was in the briefing room next to hers. And while she couldn't hear them, they were thinking more than loud enough for her to know what was going on as if she was in the room listening to the conversation taking place in front of her.

"I'm not saying what she did out there to help us doesn't matter, but it needs to be weighed against what she did before that," Steve said.

"Like helping a genocidal robotic despot," Tony quipped.

 _This is all our fault, she remembered whimpering as she huddled inside that Church._

"Although," Natasha spoke up, "If Tony hadn't created that genocidal despot, it might not have happened. And Tony, let's not forget that you did have a hand in how that girl feels about you."

"Deep down, she only helped Ultron because he was able to manipulate her and her brother," Clint defended her.

Wanda felt herself grin appreciatively at the Clint, and to some extent Natasha, coming to her defense.

"Fine, I'll admit it, a younger, more weapons happy version of me might have scarred that kid, but any shrink could tell you – she's angry. And that anger made it much easier for Ultron to play Palpatine to her Anakin," Tony pointed out.

"And why was she so angry?" Natasha posed to him. "Maybe because she had her childhood ruined by a bright shiny Stark bomb. Personally, I'm amazed that she set that anger aside to help."

"For me, watching that girl wade into a war zone to help says more about her than all the stuff she did up to that. And don't think that she doesn't know that she didn't have a part in what happened, because she does. It almost shut her down out there. But instead of breaking down, she owned it, and then decided to step up and try to fix it," Clint argued to Tony. Just then, a small pep talk, rang through her memory. As she thought about it, she smiled as she now realized that was the beginning of whatever - father-daughter - type relationship they had.

 _Doesn't matter what you did, or what you were. If you go out there, you fight, and you fight to kill...If you step out that door, you are an Avenger._

"I agree," Thor finally spoke up. "In battle, a warrior's actions speaks volumes more than their words. And if her brother was willing to lay down his life for one of our own, then we owe it to him to watch out for his own."

Wanda almost teared up at the mention of what her brother did. She always used to tell him that he was reckless. That he was impulsive. That if he wasn't careful that he was going to end up shot. She never in a million years ever thought it would happen. And she certainly never thought that he'd get shot protecting someone that wasn't her. But one of the men in the next room, the one who got her to realize that sometimes you need to set aside your anger and do the right thing, was alive because her brother decided to do the right thing.

"I say we put it to a vote," Steve suggested.

* * *

"I stopped listening in on their thoughts right then," Wanda told Laura. "Part of me didn't want to know who voted which way. But I'm assuming that I at least got a majority since I got to stay."

The sight of Natasha walking back toward them stopped the two women's conversation.

"We're in luck, the dress is still here. I've got it ready in one of the dressing rooms for you," Natasha said with a smile and a cocking of her head in the direction she wanted Wanda to go. Laura and Wanda followed her.

"Oh my God, Nat, I love it," Wanda gushed a few minutes later from the inside of the dressing room. Laura looked over at Natasha, a surprised expression on her face. Natasha mouthed the words, I told you she'd love it, to her friend who smiled.

"Don't keep us waiting, Wanda," Laura told her. "We'd like to see it, too."

A second later Wanda came out, and both women felt slow, approving smiles grace their lips. The dress was a 1950s inspired eggplant purple halter swing dress. The elegant looking garment featured a high semi-sheer halter neckline layered over a padded peek-a-boo sweetheart bust with some flexible boning for structure. The generously gathered natural waist and skirt, which came down to her knees, with gauzy mesh layering provided a flattering A-line silhouette on Wanda's slim figure. It was a classic look that had just the right amount of sex appeal that still made it appealing for a teenage girl that didn't to look like she was trying to show off everything she had.

"Oh my God," Laura gasped as she saw Wanda stand before her. She smiled bigger as she saw Wanda twirl to let Natasha and herself see the back of the dress. "Sweetheart, you look beautiful."

"You really think so?" Wanda asked them, looking for just that little bit of reassurance from her the woman she thought of as her mother.

Laura nodded. "Luke could barely talk after seeing you in your dress for your first date. In _this_ dress, he might need to remember _how_ to talk," she chuckled. She then turned to Natasha. "You were right, she does look stunning."

"I knew she would in that dress," Natasha said proudly. "So, Wanda…is this the one?"

Wanda nodded enthusiastically, her face practically glowing, matching the big bright smile that hadn't left her face since she saw herself in the dress in the mirror inside the dressing room.


End file.
